Between My Brother and Me: De Novo
by Green Phantom Queen
Summary: Rewrite of the original "Between My Brother and Me". May and Max have learned of a threat that is going to destroy the world, and with new friends, secrets, and threats, the siblings have decided to stop the madness of the Seal of Orichalcos. Unfortunately, the road will not be easy, as the two begin to dive deep into darker pasts regarding the Sands of Egypt.
1. Prologue: Trial of Nightmare

_Before we get started, there are some things to address about this story:_

_First off, this story will take place after the end of the Pokémon Battle Frontier and will be an adaptation of "Waking the Dragons". While this story will adhere to the dub, I will add in some references to the original anime (but not all of them, of course). The only (human) characters from Pokémon that play a role here will be May and Max-whether or not I shall add others in future tales will depend on whether or not people are interested, and whether or not I can easily fit them into the world._

_Second, cards that are showcased here will be spread-out throughout the entire franchise, but most of the monsters showcased are from the DM and GX era. Made-up cards will be marked in bold and information about the cards will be shown at the bottom of the chapter (reading through them is completely optional). Duels that involve supernatural powers will start at 4000 lifepoints, while regular duels will begin with 8000._

_Third, Pokémon attacks and abilities will adhere to Gen VI (Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire specifically), but Mega Evolutions will not appear in this tale._

_Fourth, and last but not least, I do not own any of the characters except for ones I made up. All rights to the characters from Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh belong to their respective creators and nothing more. The only thing I have control over is the flow of the story, nothing more._

_And now, without further ado, let us begin._

* * *

**Between My Brother and Me: De Novo**

Author: Green Phantom Queen

Rated: T

Summary: Before heading off to the Johto league, May and Max decide to take a trip to Domino City where they encounter real live Duel Monsters, ancient spirits, and the task to protect the Pharaoh in his darkest hour against the threat of the Seal of Orichalcos. Armed with their Pokémon, Duel Disks and endless amounts of courage, these two will stop at nothing in saving the world from utter destruction.

**Prologue: Trial of Nightmare**

_"I never paint dreams or nightmares. I paint my own reality."_

_-Frida Kalho_

_**It was sunset on that fateful day when everything changed.**_

_**That was when our lives went off into a different direction, if only for a short while. Max and I changed so dramatically within that span of 7 to 8 days that I still remember it right now. It involved so many things: a book, a friend, a giant monster, a man wanting to rebuild the world in his image, and memories from a time long, long ago…**_

_**But the most important thing that it happened was how Max and I made it all the way to the end and how we grew up from these experiences. Sure, Ash and Brock helped us out throughout our adventures in the Hoenn and Kanto region, but after that, we were on our own. It's amazing what we experienced in that week...**_

_**I'm getting ahead of myself though. Let me start just after the Terracotta Grand Festival...**_

**0-0-0-0-0**

It was sunset when it all started.

After the battle in the Terracotta Grand Festival, which lead to May's Combusken evolving into a Blaziken and both she and Ash tying for the Terracotta ribbon (that they promptly were able to split thanks to a Leaf Blade from Ash's Sceptile), it was time for her to head off for the next Pokémon Festival and to improve her skills as a Pokémon Coordinator. Saying good-bye to people you grew close to was always difficult, but it had to be done.

"It's been fun," May said to Ash and Brock as the ship appeared at the port. "But...now it's time for me to go on my own adventure, and take what I've learn to become the best Pokémon coordinator ever! So, I hope you understand...and I hope to see you again soon."

"We do, don't worry," Ash replied, patting the girl's head. "Just promise me that you'll call us from time to time, okay?"

"Pikachu. Pika!" The small yellow rodent added.

"And make sure all of your Pokémon are in good condition," Brock added. "You don't want them to get sick on your trip to the Johto region."

"Promise," May replied, saluting them. "I won't let any of my friends get sick."

"That's good to hear," Ash smiled, hands behind his head. "It's always good to take care of your friends."

Suddenly the sound of the foghorns came in, and May turned to see the ship at the dock, placing a hand on her forehead to block the glare of the sun. Something about the sunset, in its bright orange, reds and yellows that indicated the time between day and night, reminded her of something long ago...or perhaps it was something that she saw in a dream. Still, she smiled all the same.

"Well, Max," she said as she turned to Max. "This looks like this is our ship."

"Huh?" Max asked in confusion. "'You're not heading off for the Johto region yet?"

May shook her head. "I'm going to go back home and rest for a while before I head off," she explained, turning toward the sunset. "Mom and Dad haven't heard from us for a while, anyway. It would be great to see them before I head off."

"That's awesome! Then we can spend more time before you leave."

May blinked. "You're...really going to miss me that much?"

Max turned away, trying to hide the embarrassment on his face. "Well...I'll miss you...a little bit," he replied in a soft voice.

May smiled as she hugged her brother. "That's okay," she said. "I'll miss you too."

"Goodbye then!" Ash said, as the two siblings headed to the ship. "Take care!"

"Goodbye!" May and Max replied with a wave of their hands as the ship started to sail away minutes later. Slowly, Ash, Brock and Pikachu became nothing more than dots underneath the red and orange sky. Resting against the side of the ship, May stared at the waters, seeing it ripple and foam. A gentle breeze blew and caressed her cheeks. At one point, she thought she could hear a voice whispering directly into her ear, as if the person was standing right behind her, but she brushed that thought aside and took in a deep breath to smell the salty air.

"I wonder what's going to be like once I'm alone," she murmured. "I'm a bit scared..."

Max turned to his sister and placed a hand over her own. May turned, seeing how her her brother smiled at her.

"Don't worry," he said. "You'll be fine. No matter what happens, I'll be thinking about you and praying that you'll make it. All you have to do is believe in yourself, and things will turn out for the better!"

"You really think so?"

"Trust me, I _know_ so."

May smiled as the two siblings held hands. The wind blew softly as they continued to stare for a few seconds. May then released the grasp and looked for something in one of the pouches on her fanny pack. She then pulled the items out: they were two necklaces that looked like the halves of a Poké Ball pendant.

"I almost forgot about these," she said as she placed one necklace around her brother's neck, feeling her gloved fingers connect the clasp. "That way, no matter what happens, we're always there for each other. What do you think?"

Max stared at the pendant for a while. Despite all of the bickering the two went through during the past few months together, the siblings had a bond that no one could break. The pendant halves proved that they would always be together no matter what.

"It looks great," he said with a big smile on his face. "Now we'll..." He was interrupted when a light appeared from one of May's Poké Balls. Munchlax appeared, greeting the two with a cry of his name. May giggled.

"Munchlax!" she replied as she knelt closer to him. "Are you hungry, already?"

"Munch!" Munchlax replied patting his stomach. May laughed as she pulled out her Pokéblock case.

"Okay, open wide!" She replied as a pink Pokéblock popped out of the case and into her gloved hand. Munchlax immediately dove for it, swallowing it whole. In seconds, his stomach expanded before shrinking down to its normal size. Munchlax then fell asleep on his back, happy that he was full.

"Guess some things will never change," Max replied as May laughed in reply.

**0-0-0-0-0**

Far far away from where May and Max were, in an ancient stone temple that sat in the middle of the ocean standing upon an unknown island, a white hooded figure stared at them through an untouched bowl of water carved with symbols of an unknown origin. Waving his hand over the bowl, the image disappeared. He looked up at the temple, stone panels revealing images of people were surrounding him, and three stone snakes, their mouths wide open with pointed fangs greeted him. After all this time, he finally had to worry about two very dangerous adversaries.

"These two," the figure murmured, narrowing his eyes. "The Leviathan senses great power within them. In fact, they even rival the Pharaoh's power if they were to ever tap into it."

"Two little kids rival a 5,000 year old Pharaoh?" A voice from behind him replied. Hearing it, it sounded as if he had a strange accent. "That's improbable."

"Improbable it may be, Valon," The white hooded man replied, turning to face whoever spoke. "But it is not impossible. Apparently these two have met up with some beings that gave them these strange auras...could it be possible that these two will give the Leviathan more power than before?"

"It could be," A second voice chimed in. "What is your plan, Master?"

The so-called "Master" grinned. "Stick to the plan for now," he replied. "But, should you find evidence of these children unlocking their true potential, bring them to me. We might be able to use them for our cause..."

The waters in the stone bowl rippled again, revealing the two siblings once more. However, they both had glowing auras. May's was a ocean blue, while Max was a starry yellow, but neither of them could see it. And even if they could, they were too focused on the adventures ahead, and what would await them.

**0-0-0-0-0**

After dinner on the ship, May and Max immediately made it to their sleeping quarters. It was a small room, complete with a desk, lamp, chair and bunk beds. Both siblings removed their shoes as Max ran to the ladder.

"Top bunk's mine!" he said climbing up the ladder. He immediately removed his backpack, setting it to the side of his bed. He let his back bounce against the comfy mattress as he laughed. "This mattress is so comfy, May!"

"Don't bounce on it too hard, or you'll crash into me," May replied, placing her fanny pack on her bed. Grabbing her four Poké Balls, she tossed them into the air, all four of her Pokémon—Blaziken, Squirtle, Munchlax and Eevee—soon settling on the floor.

"Okay guys," said May as she pulled out some food bowls from Max's backpack. "Dinner time!" The Pokémon cried in happiness as the bowls were filled with delicious food. The coordinator sighed as she rested her head on the pillow, closing her eyes. It was a tiring day and she could really use some rest.

"Hey May," asked her brother suddenly, causing the coordinator to look up. "Do you think I'll become a great Pokémon trainer someday?" May sat up and stuck her head out of the bunk.

"You'll be fine, Max. I mean, Dad is Gym Leader of Petalburg, and traveling with Ash and Brock helped you experience what it was like traveling all over the world. In fact, I'd be very proud of you once you're out on your own with your first Pokémon."

Max smiled as he stared at the top of the ceiling. "You're right...everything is going to be just fine."

After all of the Pokémon had been fed, May returned them all to their Poké Balls. She turned off the lights to the room, smiling a bit as she removed her bandana off of her head and onto the desk. Stretching her arms, she laid back on her bed, pulling the blankets over her.

"Goodnight, Max," she said, her brother replying with his own "Goodnight, May."

And in a few minutes, she soon fell asleep, her eyes closing shut as she began to dream.

**0-0-0-0-0**

May didn't know how long she was asleep when she opened her eyes to find herself swimming in the ocean. Her mind instantly recalled the the dream she had long ago, when she met up with Manaphy, the Prince of the Sea. Mantine, Luvdisc, Goldeen, Magikarp, and Remoraid swam past her, while bubbles of water surrounded her like a small tornado. She could only laugh as other Pokémon like Chinchou, Wailmer, Seaking, and Lanturn said hello. It was a beautiful sight of different color coral coming out of the ground and a gentle ocean current calming her. Nothing could replace this beautiful feeling of peace and serenity.

That's when she looked up and saw a sight that she had not seen for such a long time. It was Samiya, the Sea Crown. Memories appeared in her mind. She recalled the journey to find Samiya and the Sea Crown so Manaphy could go back home, and of the tearful goodbye the two had shared. She missed Manaphy very, very much.

"Momma!" May gasped as she turned to her left, as a small glowing orb of light soon appeared by her side. It dissipated as Manaphy appeared in front of her eyes. "Momma, momma, momma!"

"Manaphy?" The coordinator said to herself. "Manaphy!" She cried as the Seafaring Pokémon came to her.

"Momma!" Manaphy replied. "May!" May couldn't help but hug the Prince of the Sea as it came near her. "Momma! Momma!" The Pokémon cried out in distress.

"Manaphy, what's wrong?" May looked up to see Samiya being destroyed! Manaphy started to cry as May held him close, the to watching the palace being destroyed by a dark serpent-like shadow in horror. A ghastly roar was heard as Samiya started to fall into the ocean floor, the gems that gave it the name of "The Sea Crown" being destroyed into smaller and smaller crystals. Manaphy flew away from May's arms, swimming toward its fallen home.

"MANAPHY!" May screamed as a swarm of bubbles covered her vision. "Wait, come back!"

**0-0-0-0-0**

"MANAPHY!" May shouted as she woke up from her nightmare. She panted for breath, a hand on her heart. Looking outside, she found light pouring out of the porthole; it was morning. Sweat fell down her face as she recalled that horrible dream. What type of monstrous being would go after Samiya like that?

"It couldn't be..." she whispered. "What's happened to Manaphy?" She didn't have time to think as she heard Max climbing down the ladder. She briefly looked into her brother's large brown eyes, seeing that they showed concern and worry for her.

"Are you alright, May?" he asked. "You were screaming about Manaphy..." May slowly nodded her head. "Is something wrong with him? Has some poacher tried to make off with Samiya again?"

"I...I don't know. I was dreaming a similar dream when we were with Lizabeth and her family, but then something strange happened. Some sort of giant snake was destroying Samiya, and Manaphy went after it..."

"Could it be that Manaphy is in danger?" Max asked, some fear in his voice. May shrugged her shoulders and shook her head.

"I'm...not sure myself," she answered back. "I don't have all the answers, and Manaphy is with Samiya wherever the current is moving it. I'm not a descendant of the People of the Water, so why did I have that vision?"

"Maybe because you and Manaphy had a special bond, he's telling you what is going to happen in the near future. Or maybe...he's told you something about what's happening right now."

"I'm afraid, Max," May closed her eyes as she pulled her knees to her chest. "What if Manaphy is in danger? And what about Samiya? What's happening to them?"

She stayed silent while horrid thoughts of her nightmare played through her mind. She covered her ears with her hands and squeezed her eyes shut in the attempt that these dark visions would go away. Seeing this, Max crawled up into the bunk and hugged his sister.

"Things are going to be better, I promise. Manaphy's going to be fine, I'm sure you were just having a nightmare, that's all."

"Yeah...a nightmare," May whispered, repeating her brother's words. The two were still in that embrace for some time before heading outside of the ship.

**0-0-0-0-0**

After arriving at Slateport City, taking a ferry to Dewford Island, and using Mr. Briney's boat to head back to Petalburg Forest, it was already night time. The stars greeted the two as the wind whispered a soft hello against the trees. Around them, Tailow were asleep on the tree branches, Wurmple—along with its evolutionary partners Silcoon and Cascoon—slept around large patches of grass, while Poochyena slept in packs of four or five pups, sighing happily.

"It's been awhile since we've been here," said Max, staring at their surroundings. "It was if it was only yesterday that Ash captured a Tailow and we met up with Brock for the first time."

"I know," May replied. "There are so many Pokémon here: Poochyena, Zigzagoon, Wurmple, Slakoth..."

"Shuppet!"

"And Shuppet!" May finished. Then she paused. "Wait a minute, Shuppet don't live in Petalburg Woods."

Both siblings turned around to see a smiling Puppet Pokémon looking back at them. They screamed as they stepped back from the Ghost Pokémon slowly approaching them.

"What's a Shuppet doing out here?" Max asked as the Ghost Pokémon traveled to them. That's when the two noticed what was surrounding him—a Poké Ball and a folded piece of paper taped to it in a light blue aura.

"And why does he have a Poké Ball and a floating around him?" May added as she picked up the Poké ball. Removing the paper, and unfolding it, she soon began to read its contents out loud.

_"To Max and May,_

_"If you are reading this, then Shuppet has been able to successfully find you. And for that, I am relieved._

_"Let me explain, after Shuppet and I reunited, I slowly came to realize that Shuppet missed playing like in the old days. Knowing how much fun he had with you two, I thought it would be best that you would have him. It was sad to let him go, but it is for the best...I wish him the best of luck._

_"I have sent along with this letter a Poké Ball that will be used for keeping my good friend. I hope you take care of this little Pokémon, and will be able to have fun with him like I did in my youth."_

_Signed, Emily_

"Emily?" said Max, tilting his head and tapping his chin with a finger for a second or two. "Wait, she's the same woman who owned that mansion that we stayed in when the rain was pouring. You know, the one where I used Shuppet to pretend that the mansion was haunted, right?"

"You had to bring that up..." May sighed. "But still, the fact that she's giving Shuppet to you…" She stared at the Ghost Pokémon with the big grin on its face as it floated toward Max.

"Shuppet..." The Puppet Pokémon replied, using his Psychic attack to lift the Poké Ball out of May's hands and into Max's own. "Shuppet, shup."

"Huh?" Max asked in confusion. "You want...to be with me?" Shuppet nodded his head. "Really? But…" Max looked down at his feet as he asked, "What if I don't become a good trainer. What if I fail?"

"Shuppet, shup, Shuppet." The Ghost Pokémon nodded its head.. "Shuppet, Shuppet!"

"Shuppet is right," said May, placing a hand on her brother's shoulder. "You need to believe in yourself in order to succeed. Besides, Shuppet has a liking to you, and until you're old enough to become a trainer, you can use Shuppet to be your soon to be partner."

"What about Ralts?" Max replied, recalling the promise he had made to the Feeling Pokémon on Izabe Island. "I made a promise to him that we'd be together..."

"I'm sure Ralts will understand what's going on when you show him Shuppet. Then, Ralts and Shuppet will become great friends just like you're friends with them. Now come on; throw that PokeBall and capture Shuppet."

"All right, here goes. Go Poké ball!"

Max tossed the Poké ball to Shuppet, the sphere tapping against the Pokémon's forehead. He then became a red beam of light as he was transported into the Poké Ball. The metal sphere closed and fell to the ground, the silver button in the center blinking red as the Ball vibrated for a bit. Then with a satisfied 'click', Shuppet was captured.

Max picked up the Poké Ball and cried, "All right, Shuppet. Come on out!"

The Poké Ball opened and the Puppet Pokémon appeared once more with the same smile on its face.

"Shuppet!" he replied as the ghost-type flew near Max. The young boy laughed as the two partners embraced each other. May could only smile as she saw Max playing with a new friend.

"I'm glad we're getting to know each other better," she said after a few seconds. "But we still need to get back to Mom and Dad."

"Oh yeah," Max said before turning to Shuppet. "You're going to meet up with my parents, and then you'll see all the Pokémon we have. Isn't that great?"

"Shup!" The Pokémon nodded its head, excited about the new friends it would make.

"Let's hurry up so we can get some sleep!" May shouted as the three raced across the forest, their lungs filled with the night-time air, their hearts pounding in excitement as they were about to reach the end of their journey, returning to their home where it all began...where May left it to venture to Littleroot Town, where Max received the PokéNav from their father, where Ash fought their father for the Balance Badge...everything would start and end at Petalburgh City, they just knew it.

Neither sibling had the time to look around or talk as they eventually saw the sleepy town of Petalburg come up to them. They stood still, observing the quiet scenery around them, just knowing that they had all arrived home safe and sound.

"We're here," May thought as the three ran to the Petalburg Gym. "We're home."

**0-0-0-0-0**

Deep within the basement of the Petalburg Gym, among dust, boxes and knickknacks, a tome filled with strange, archaic symbols was lit by the light of the moon. The symbols of the cover started to glow...

And with it, four pairs of eyes opened from a deep slumber. Each one was trapped within the confines of the pages, each one praying to be let loose. For the first time in what seemed like a millennium, they were fully aware of their surroundings.

"Finally," One voice replied. "She has returned...our goddess. The one who talked to us...the one who cherished us. We will finally be able to see her again!"

"And yet," Another voice added. "She does not know, and she cannot recall what has happened in her past. Evil is afoot though; she must fulfill her destiny."

"We must be free of our prison," The third voice stated. "Then we can finally be with her once more!"

"May the gods be on our side," The last voice ended. "So that we can protect her...our beloved Goddess of Joy."

**0-0-0-0-0**

**May: So, we finally made it back home. Mom and Dad must be excited to see us after all this time.**

**Max: And it seems like they want us to visit some place called Domino City. I've never heard of that place before.**

**May: They must have some awesome Pokémon trainers and coordinators. I bet the food is also tasty.**

**Caroline: Actually, it's known for this tournament known as the Battle City Tournament. And get this, it doesn't involve Pokémon, but something called 'Duel Monsters'.**

**May and Max: Duel Monsters?!**

**May: Next time, Between my Brother and Me: De Novo Chapter 1, "Domino Effect"**

**Max: What exactly are Duel Monsters?**


	2. I: Domino Effect

**Between My Brother and Me - De Novo**

**1: Domino Effect**

"_There's a certain domino effect with certain things you say."_

_-Johnny Vegas_

Petalburg City. May and Max's hometown.

The two couldn't be more excited to see the city in the distance. Just the fact that they were going to see their parents once more made them even more excited. There was no other feeling than to return home and to reunite with family after a long and perilous journey, and this was no exception. The two siblings hurried through the quiet streets, both of them trying their hardest not to scream and startle the neighbors. After all, the last time they entered Petalburgh in broad daylight, they were practically mobbed as if they were celebrities, which they technically were since they were the children of the Petalburgh Gym Leader.

"Shuppet!" said Shuppet as the three made it to the front door. "Shuppet, shuppet!"

"I know, Shuppet!" Max replied to the Ghost Pokémon. "We're home."

He knocked on the door to the Petalburg Gym, the lights turning on from the inside. There was some silence as both brother and sister heard someone approach the door. After a few seconds, the door opened, and there stood Max and May's mother, Caroline.

"Oh my," said Caroline, seeing her children. "You came back already?"

"Hi, mom!" May and Max exclaimed before they gave their mother a hug. Caroline replied by wrapping her arms around her son and daughter. "It's great to see you!"

"It's great to see you too!" Caroline said in reply, returning the hug. "Come on in; you must be hungry after such a long trip!" As the two siblings entered, Caroline then stared at the happy Puppet Pokémon. "And who are you supposed to be?"

"My new friend!" Max chimed in as Shuppet floated into the house. "He's very playful!"

"Shuppet Shup!" Shuppet replied as it started to glow. Its eyes began to glow in a blue light as it stared at a small vase on a table. The white flowers that were placed inside began to float in the air, and soon landed in Caroline's hands.

"That's so sweet," she said as she looked at Shuppet. "Thank you, Shuppet."

"Shuppet!" The ghost Pokémon chirped. "Shuppet!"

"What's going on?" Everyone turned to see Norman, the Petalburg Gym leader, entering the living room. May and Max immediately ran up to their father and hugged him in delight.

"Hi, dad!" The two cried. Norman laughed as he patted his children's heads.

"Isn't this a surprise," he said. "How have you two been doing?"

"Awesome!" May replied. "I made it to the top 4 of the Grand Festival in Kanto!"

"She was amazing, dad!" Max added. "Her Combusken evolved into Blaziken, and she even has a Squirtle and Eevee! Not to mention that climatic finale between May's Blaziken and Ash's Sceptile at the Terracotta Grand Festival! It ended in a tie after they both activated their special abilities!"

"You can tell us all of it during dinner," Caroline said as she placed the bouquet of flowers back into the vase. Shuppet flew to Max, still carrying that big grin on its face. "After all, it has been a while since we ate a meal together!"

"But first," said Norman, standing up. "Why not meet up with everyone at the greenhouse? I'm sure everyone would like to see you again."

"Yeah!" May and Max cried simultaneously.

**0-0-0-0-0**

Hidden amongst the lush trees and bushes in the Petalburgh Gym's greenhouse, May and Max walked inside to see the Slakoth and Vigoroth coming up to greet them. The evolutionary family hugged the two siblings while the two could just laugh at seeing these strong Sloth-type Pokémon act like puppy dogs toward them. Heck, Slaking even opened his eyes to smile at the two, before he he laid back in the circle of grass he was sleeping on to snore once more.

"It's great to see you all again!" Max replied, hugging the Wild Monkey Pokémon. "I see you're all doing well."

"Beau!" May looked up to see Beautifly flying towards her. The Butterfly Pokémon landed on top of its trainer's head, fluttering its wings as to say hello.

"Beautifly, it's great to see you!" May replied. "How have you been doing?" Beautifly responded with a soft "Beau".

"Shuppet!" Shuppet flew to Beautifly with a grin plastered on it face. "Shuppet! Shuppet!"

"Beautifly!" Beautifly cried, flapping its wings. "Beau! Beau!" The two hovered around each other in their own type of introductory dance.

"Oh yeah, that's right!" said May, bringing out her Poké Balls. "Let me bring out everyone to say hello!"

She tossed the Poké Balls into the air, the spheres opening up to reveal her four Pokémon. All of them greeted hello to the residents in the Greenhouse. Blaziken immediately shook hands with Slaking, Squirtle blew bubbles at Slakoth, and Munchlax began pulling out a berry buried in his furry body to hand to Vigoroth.

"Looks like everyone's getting around well!" said Max. "They all look so happy."

"Of course they are," May noted. "It's great to see new friends after all."

"Eevee!" Eevee cried out as she saw all of the dirt around her. She then used her paws to dig into the moist soil, leaving a small hole with more dirt appearing around it.

"Nya!" May looked to see Skitty run toward the group of Pokémon. Unfortunately, as Skitty was running toward them, Eevee was also digging toward the Kitten Pokémon.

"No, stop!" May cried, knowing just how this was all going to end.

Skitty stopped running, but was then lifted into the air when Eevee popped out of the long tunnel it was digging. Skitty fell onto the mud, landing on its feet and growling at the Evolutionary Pokémon.

"Uh-oh..." said Max, seeing the two Normal-type Pokémon glaring at each other, almost to the point of lightning sparking out of their eyes. "This could get bad."

"Nya!" Skitty cried as it opened its mouth to unleash its Blizzard attack. Pellets of ice flew into the air, hitting Eevee square in the chest. Eevee retaliated with a black orb of energy escaping its mouth and fired it back at Skitty.

"That's enough, both of you!" said May, running up to them. "Stop all of this fighting right now!"

But both of the Normal-type Pokémon ignored the command and continued to stare at each other. Skitty soon jumped, turning its body into the air so its tail was facing Eevee. Moving its tail, Skitty proceeded to hit Eevee across the face with Double Slap.

"Skitty, stop that!" May exclaimed as she brought out two Poké Balls. "Come on, let's all play nice!"

"Shuppet!" Shuppet, sensing the crisis, floated near May. "Shup..." It repeated as red, glowing outlines appeared on both Skitty and Eevee. They fused into a ray of light that flew onto the horn on top of Shuppet's head. Shuppet closed his eyes and soon flew back to Max, satisfied with the meal.

"Ee?" Eevee replied, looking around. It then noticed Skitty and then ran to the Kitten Pokémon, the two of them soon chasing each other as if they were inseparable friends.

"Oh yeah!" said Max, hitting his palm with the bottom of his fist. "Shuppets are known feed off of angry emotions, so when he noticed Eevee and Skitty fighting, he took their anger and converted it into food!"

"Speaking of food..." May and Max turned to see Norman walking into the Greenhouse with a tray of Pokémon food in his hands. He set the tray down to the ground. "Who wants dinner?"

"We do!" May and Max cried with their hands in the air, as the Pokémon rushed over to the numerous bowls of food laid out for them.

"Munch!" Munchlax shouted as it started to devour everything in sight, much to the displeasure of everyone else. This caused Slaking to get furious, one of its arms glowing as if ready to fight back with a powerful Focus Punch.

"Oh no, that can't be good!" said Max, covering his eyes. "I can't watch!"

"Munchlax!" May commanded, pulling out her Pokéblock case from her fanny pack. She flicked her wrist as a Pink Pokéblock flew in the air. "Have a taste!"

"Munch?" Munchlax replied as he saw the treat falling onto the ground. "Munch!" He immediately ran to the precious Pokéblock just as Slaking's massive fist hit the ground, causing the earth to shake and many of the Pokémon to fly into the air. Thanks to the lift, Munchlax was able to get its hands on the Pokéblock and soon swallowed it whole. In seconds, its stomach expanded and he landed on the ground with a sigh, satisfied with its meal.

"Is it over?" Max said, lowering his arms. He let out a sigh of relief when he found Slaking falling asleep and the other Pokémon eating the leftovers Munchlax had spared. "Phew...that could've been bad."

It was then that May's stomach started to growl. She smiled sheepishly and asked, "Well, what do we say we have dinner?"

**0-0-0-0-0**

"Croquettes!" May squealed when she saw a plate full of fried potato patties. Using a pair of chopsticks, she picked one off of the pile and munched on it, squealing with more delight as she let the taste fill her body. "These are my absolute favorite next to homemade noodles!"

"Awesome!" Max replied as he cut his croquette open with a fork and knife. In doing so, a white creamy sauce spread onto the empty plate. "And it's a cream crab one, too! Thanks mom!"

"Anything for my children," Caroline replied as she saw her son and daughter eat. "So May, what are you going to do next?"

"Well," May replied, wiping her lips with a napkin. "I wanted to rest here at home before I left for Johto. I'm going to be on my own, and I probably won't be seeing any of you guys for quite a while so it's best to prepare everything before I head off for my next Pokémon Contest."

"I'll be staying home," Max added. "But it's just not fair. I mean, May gets to travel to a new area and Ash and Brock are heading going to a new region and seeing brand new Pokémon. Between my sister and friends heading off to new adventures, it seems like I'm never going to be a Pokémon trainer."

"That's not true, Max," said Norman. "You already have Shuppet on you, so that means you can train and help it evolve into a Banette. Then when you're ten, Professor Birch will help you get your Starter Pokémon and you can then pursue your dream of taking over the Petalburgh Gym with gusto."

"Really? Are you sure about that?"

Norman nodded his head, smiling at his son. "I assure you, that it will. But..." He then turned to May (who was eating her third croquette). "May, since you won't be heading off to the Johto region for a while, why don't you and Max visit Domino City before then?"

"Domino City?" May repeated, tilting her head. "I've never heard of that place before. Does it have a Gym or a Contest Hall?"

"Actually, it just held a tournament that was held just a few months ago," Caroline answered. "Domino City is a gaming city, where people play a popular card game known as 'Duel Monsters'. They just finished the Battle City Tournament with the winner being a teenager named Yugi Muto."

"Yugi...Muto?" Max mimicked, tipping his head to the side. "That's an interesting name..."

"I've got a magazine of _Duelist Monthly _that you can read," Caroline explained, getting up from her chair. "I received it in the mail a few days ago, and I thought that you two would like to read it. Perhaps it will get you more interested in spending some time there." She soon walked off to the living room as May and Max continued to think about the city.

"Domino City," May began, lifting her gaze to the ceiling in thought. "In it there's Duel Monsters and a tournament called Battle City..."

"And there's a famous person, I mean duelist, who goes by the name of Yugi Muto," Max ended.

"That seems...interesting." Both siblings said simultaneously.

Caroline returned with the magazine in hand. The cover of the magazine had the picture of a teenage boy with fierce amethyst eyes and a striking hairdo; black spiky hair framed with additional streaks of red, and yellow bangs with some additional yellow streaks that looked similar to lightning bolts. The figure also wore a black leather top and pants, the top draped by a blue jacket like it was a cape. What were the most interesting, and curious things, about the attire was the inverted pyramid necklace that was worn on a silver chain, and the device on his left arm. To May and Max, the device looked like a giant watch with curves that made it look like axe blades. Was that what everyone used to "duel" each other?

"What the heck is that thing?" May asked, pointing to the futuristic device. "Is it a weapon?"

"It's something called a 'Duel Disk'," Norman explained, taking the magazine into his hands. He flipped it to a spread-out showing a diagram of the Duel Disk complete with lines pointing to its various components and text that explained each part's particular function. "Apparently, duelists use it to play cards on them, and they come to life."

"You mean they can be summoned like Pokémon?" Max exclaimed.

"No, they appear as holograms," Caroline answered her son. "And then these duelists have these things called Life Points that they use as a way to track the progress of what happens. When someone's life points lower to zero or if they can't draw anymore cards, then the duel is over."

"Wow! That sounds interesting!" Max replied. He then stared at the necklace on the magazine. "But...what's that?"

May stared at the golden pyramid with curiosity. Something made it so familiar...she knew that she had seen it somewhere...and then, it clicked.

"That's called the Millennium Puzzle," she said. "It's said that whoever solves it, will gain powers of darkness that could be used to rule the world should it be taken into the wrong hands."

Everyone around her gasped in shock. Max stared at the artifact, and then back at May before he said, "H…how do you know that?"

May blinked and looked around. "Know about what? I don't know what you're talking about."

"B...but you knew what that necklace was!" Max exclaimed, showing May the picture of the Millennium Puzzle. "You said that whoever solved it gains the power of darkness! And since Yugi

is wearing it, then that means..."

"It's just a stupid story, Max," May interrupted, waving the theory off with a wave of her hand. "If Yugi was the one who solved it, then wouldn't he have tried to take over the world, instead of just playing card games?"

Max wanted to say something but then stopped, closing his mouth. He continued to stare at the cover of the magazine, trying to make sense of what was going on. There was just something so weird about the Millennium Puzzle—it was if it hid some dark secret that no one, not even Yugi, knew about.

Norman looked at the clock on the wall: it was almost midnight. He let out a yawn, which was followed by yawns from his son and daughter. It was clear that everyone was exhausted and needed some shut-eye.

"Guys, it's getting late," he noted. "Why don't we discuss this in the morning?"

"Good idea," Max replied, stretching his arms. "It's time for a nap. We've been traveling for such a long time, that I've forgotten what a bed felt like."

"Me too..." May added, staring at the magazine cover once more. Something in her mind screamed that the person on the cover was familiar...but why?

**0-0-0-0-0**

Half an hour later, after unpacking her clothes and brushing her teeth, May slipped into a pair of pajamas—black with pink flowers decorating the shirt and pants—as she sat at the edge of her bed. All of her Pokémon were resting in the Greenhouse, while Shuppet decided to stay with Max for the night, leaving her alone in her room. The thought of leaving on a journey by herself scared her, but the prospect of somehow knowing the person on that magazine cover frightened her more. She had never even seen Yugi before, so why did she feel her heart beat rapidly when she gazed into those dark purple eyes?

_It must be nothing. _she said to herself. _But I'm also worried...could he know something about Manaphy and Samiya? _She shook her head at the absurdity of the question. _I must be exhausted; there's no way that this 'duelist' has anything to do with my dream...but what if he is? No, that can't be right..._

She turned off the lights to the room and tucked herself in. Her head resting against the pillow, May stared at the the ceiling, lost in thought. Why did she know what that necklace was? Had she seen it before? No...she had never seen it before in her life, and yet she was able to accurately state its name and its purpose.

Her eyes soon closed as sleep took her, the silence of the room stilled as everyone in the household fell asleep. For a while, there was nothing heard in the dark household except the rustling of the sheets moving, and the soft breathing of the inhabitants. Until...

_Goddess of Joy...Goddess...please wake up..._

May's eyes suddenly opened at the voice. She sat up, a hand against her chest as she took in deep breath. "W-who's there?" She asked to the room. "What do you want? Where are you?"

_Come to us, Goddess...Please...Set us free..._

"I said 'who are you?'" May tossed the blankets off of her and grasped onto the flashlight near the foot of her bed. She clicked the button on as the cone of light shone in the darkness. "And why are you calling me' Goddess'?"

_Goddess is Goddess...Goddess set us free...she made us happy...she is a Goddess of Joy..._

"Stop calling me that!" May hissed as she opened the door to her room. Slowly stepping outside, she waved the flashlight back and forth, finding no one inside the hall. Knowing that everyone else was asleep, she slowly stepped down on the floor.

There was a slight 'creak', but it wasn't loud enough to wake everyone up. On her tiptoes, May continued to follow the bodiless voice, searching through every room behind a closed door, only to find nothing. Then, after aimlessly wandering about for a minute or two, she found herself going downstairs to the basement.

"Do I...really have to go in there?" May whimpered, some fear in her voice. She didn't hear a voice answer her question, but nevertheless she gulped as her hand inched closer to the doorknob. Suddenly, it opened, causing the Pokémon Coordinator to shriek in terror.

_Go in, Goddess...please, we must speak to you..._

The line was followed with three more voices urging her to go inside. May took a deep breath, slowly opened the basement door, and stepped forward. Once she had taken three steps into the basement, the door shut behind her. May whipped her head around to see that no one was behind her; the door closed all by itself. She turned away and closed her eyes.

"Keep it together, May," she told herself, taking a deep breath. Opening her eyes once more, she pointed the flashlight to different areas in the basement. There were boxes filled with memories and treasures from long ago, ready for someone to open them up and relive them once again. There was a window with moonlight shining over a specific area. Under the light was an old book with an eye engraved on its cover. She slowly walked toward the book, swallowing the lump in her throat as she did. Using her right hand, she opened the cover, seeing ancient symbols scratched onto the paper. Taking the book into her hands, she traced the symbol of an eye with her finger...for some reason, doing so calmed her down.

_Read the words, Goddess...read them!_

"Why should I?!" May yelled at the book. It took her a while for her to realize that she was talking to _a book_, but she still asked it, "Who are you?! What do you want with me?! And why do you call me 'Goddess'?!"

_We will explain later...let us out! Please...we need to be free..._

May wanted to be angry, but from the sounds of the voices, they were that desperate. She then let her fingers run across the paper and—without realizing it—she started to read the message.

"I...call upon the ancient gods of Egypt," May began as the book started to glow. "I, the reader of this book, ask to summon the spirits who have been trapped her for so long. Reveal the stories that they have to tell, reveal the secrets that they have kept...open...for I am...I am..."

May stopped at that last line...how did she know what those words mean? She had never seen them before. But it was if she had known it from the start...it was all so confusing and it was making her head spin. And as she held it, she could feel the book _vibrate_ in her hands, the symbols shining like stars with each word that she spoke.

"W...wh…" May stammered, trying to figure out what she was supposed to do. "What…"

_Finish it, Goddess! FINISH THE CHANT!_

And as much as she didn't want to, as much as she knew that something powerful laid within that ancient tome, May did as the voice told.

"Reveal the secrets that they have kept sealed!" May blurted out, repeating the last line, her heart thumping against her chest. "For I am...for I am the one who is calling for them!"

At that, the book began to float in mid-air, the pages inside it started to flap, slowly revealing pictures to May. From what she could see, there was a black heart, a dark dragon rising in the sky, two priests, a city that was caught on fire, and many other things that she couldn't see as the pages flipped faster and faster. An orb pulled itself away from the book as May looked in fear, seeing the orb hover towards her. She dropped the flashlight in her hand and started to back away.

"Goddess..." A deep voice cried from within the book. "Goddess...you are here...You have finally returned..."

"I…I'm not your goddess!" May screamed as she ran to the door...only to remember too late that it was shut when she slammed into it. She pulled on the knob, trying to force the door open as the light dimmed down, trapping her inside with whatever was calling her 'Goddess' and what not. She turned around and saw a glowing figure, looking in horror at the figure's dark wings that grew from its back.

"Oh Arceus…" she whimpered, her body trembling. "This can't be real.."

As the winged being took a step forward, May dropped to her knees, turning her head away and blocking the view with her arms in the air. Her heart was pounding in her chest as she lifted her gaze to see a pair of ghostly hands reach out to her, ready to take her to some dark place where no one could find her..

"You are here..." The voice repeated. "You came back for us...just as you promised."

The hands started to wrap themselves around May, but it only caused the girl to scream. The hands pulled themselves away as May continued to cry.

"Go away!" she said, closing her eyes and shaking her head in denial. She felt the tears falling down her face as yelled, "GO AWAY!"

As she continued to sob, there was an uneasy silence in the basement, but she was too scared to really notice it. She hugged her knees to her chest and tried to will the events as nothing more than a nightmare.

"It's just a dream…" she said to herself. "I'm dreaming. I'm dreaming!"

She kept saying the mantra over and over again as she felt her heart rate go down. It was around that time that she heard someone kneel down on the floor and, something that honestly confused her, began to cry.

May lowered her arms and turned to see the figure that had started to cry. Thanks to the illumination from the flashlight, the Pokémon Coordinator could see what they looked like. She could hardly speak when she found the figure looking exactly like the boy from the cover of the magazine, but there were a few differences between the two.

First, the person in front of her had dark skin as if he had spent his life underneath the sun's loving gaze, and they wore a white pleated robe and purple cape instead of a leather sleeveless shirt, blue pants and a blue jacket draped over the shoulders like a cape. A golden belt wrapped around his waist and a pair of golden bracers inscribed with hieroglyphics wrapped around each arm. Third was the golden headband with an eye on the middle of his forehead, and the fierce amethyst eyes that gazed at her through the magazine were replaced with crimson. Even the Millennium Puzzle was worn around the person's neck, except it was strung with a thick rope instead of a chain.

Last, and certainly the most defining feature of this person, were the black bat-like wings with red orbs inset on them and sharp claws on the joints that were on the person's back that made May immediately think of this person as a "monster". But, just looking at the tears in this person's eyes made her feel sympathy for him. Perhaps, and this was a big perhaps, the same wings were what caused others to fear him even though he wanted to befriend them. While it was simply a theory, it didn't make May feel any safer.

She was too flabbergasted to speak, trying to figure out who, or what, was in front of her as the person said,

"I'm sorry..I made you upset, my Goddess...I am not worthy of your presence..."

There was some more silence as May continued to see this person whisper apology after apology to her. More and more tears fell down his face, making her feel guilty inside. The only crime that this spirit committed was causing her to nearly scream in terror because of his entrance and appearance; he looked more benevolent than malicious, and he didn't even try to eat her up or send her to the depths of the Underworld or whatever it was that he was supposed to do.

So, with that and mind, the Pokémon Coordinator from Petalburgh City slowly turned her body toward him and shook her head.

"It's...okay..." she began, stretching her hand out to comfort the person. When the hand touched the person's shoulder, May was surprised to see that he was solid, but she brushed the thought aside as she wrapped her arms around him in a light embrace. "I forgive you. I'm sorry for scaring you, but you scared me a bit and I just...reacted like that. Everything's all right now, see?"

The person lifted his head, teary crimson eyes looking into a pair of gentle blue ones. May looked up to see the dark wings spread out and thought to herself, if only for a moment, that they were very beautiful. She smiled and stroked one of the wings with a finger and watched how the strange dark angel relaxed at the touch.

"Goddess is so forgiving..." The person murmured, replying to the embrace by wrapping May in his own. His wings covered them both as if to shield them from all sorts of trouble, causing May to gasp in surprise. "Goddess is also very beautiful, especially when she smiles." May felt her cheeks turn red when she heard the compliment just before a small smile crept on her face. May pulled herself away from the embrace and nodded her head.

"My name is May," she said to the spirit. "And...who are you?"

The spirit slowly stood up, extending an arm out to help the supposed 'Goddess'. May took the hand and also stood up, confused as to what was going on. The spirit then bowed before the Coordinator, his wings spread out to make him resemble a king of a dark realm.

"I am known as Atem, the Ancient Pharaoh," he stated. "And I am here to warn you of a great evil that is about to plague this land."

There was some silence as May took the time to digest the pharaoh's words. After a few seconds, she spoke.

"A great...evil?"

**0-0-0-0-0**

**Max: So May, did you get a lot of rest last night?**

**May: Not really...not after what I heard...**

**Max: It doesn't matter, because we're off to Domino City for a week! I can't wait to get my hands on a Duel Disk!**

**May: But what about Manaphy and Samiya? You remember my dream, don't you?**

**Atem: Goddess, please be careful, I fear that something dangerous is going to happen.**

**Max: Hey May, look at that! Monsters are attacking the city!**

**May: And there's some evil motorcyclists who are causing nothing but trouble! Looks like we're going to have to deal with it right now.**

**Max: Next time, Between My Brother and Me - De Novo Chapter 2: "Ordeal of a Traveler"**

**May: I hope we make it so that there **_**is**_ **a journey!**

**Atem: Anyone who hurts my Goddess will die...**


	3. II: Ordeal of a Traveler

**Between My Brother and Me - De Novo**

**2: Ordeal of a Traveler**

_"There are no foreign lands. It is the traveler that is foreign."_

_-Robert Louis Stevenson_

Despite being ten years old, the year that May had spent travelling across the Hoenn and Kanto region with Ash, Brock and her brother made her see things that most people would never had been able to do in their lives. Among other things she had caught different types of Pokémon, entered in two different Grand Festivals as a Pokémon Coordinator (ranking in the top eight and top four respectively), witnessed the legendary Kyogre and Groudon fight each other, stopped the reign of two dangerous criminal gangs in regards to the fighting amongst Kyogre and Groudon, met with an extraterrestrial being known as Deoxys and survived the rampage of the furious Rayquaza, sang a lullaby to a sleeping Wish Pokémon, learned of the history of a Lucario and his former partner and was nearly devoured by the Tree of Beginnings, and became mother to the Prince of the Sea while simultaneously stopping a group of pirates from destroying the prince's home.

But none of those incidents could pale in comparison to the spirit standing in front of her.

Yet, at the same time, there was something so familiar about Atem, especially with those dark black wings that seemed to make him look more...heroic than demonic. No matter how hard she thought about it, nothing came into her mind, but she still had that gut feeling that these two met in the past.

There was some silence as Atem noticed how May wasn't speaking. Sensing this as a sign, he took a step forward, his dark wings fading away in the amount of time one took to blink.

"Are you alright, my Goddess?" he asked, leaning close to May. He placed a hand on her cheek and added, "You look...so pale."

May slightly gasped when she felt the hand brushing her cheek, but then she shook her head in reply, unable to say anything in front of the Pharaoh. She took a deep breath and let it out before she began to speak, placing her hand over Atem's.

"I'm just a little...surprised," she answered, staring into the Pharaoh's crimson eyes. "I mean, it's not every day that I'm told by strange voices in my head to open an old book and read a spell that I can easily translate, revealing a Pharaoh who has dark wings that warns me of a great evil . and...oh," May blushed and shook her head. "I sound like such a complete idiot saying that in front of you."

"That is alright, Goddess. If I was in your shoes, I would also be in loss for words."

"And please stop calling me Goddess; just call me May. I mean, everyone calls me that. I'm no Goddess, Atem."

"But you are a Goddess—you are the Goddess of Joy," Atem placed his hand on May's cheek

once more and added, "You are _my_ Goddess of Joy."

"Um, thank you for that compliment," May replied, slightly shrinking away from the touch. Her cheeks were still red as she added, "Uh, Atem, I wanted to ask you a question."

"And what is this question, Goddess?"

"I had a nightmare yesterday involving Manaphy and Samiya," May explained, recalling the dream from the night before. Even as she said it, she could recall the images of all of the water Pokémon swimming around her, Manaphy calling her name, and how Samiya was struck and began to sink to the ocean floor. "In that nightmare, I saw Samiya being destroyed by a large shadowy serpent and Manaphy chased after it. Do you know what any of that means?"

"Who and what?" Atem replied to the question. "Manaphy...and Samiya?"

"Oh, I guess since you've been stuck in that book for a long time, you probably don't know anything about those topics," May muttered to herself. "How do I explain all of this?"

She then noticed the book that she read just a few minutes ago. It was still floating in mid-air and shining brightly in the moonlight, oblivious to what transpired.

"I wonder..." May said to herself, walking past the Pharaoh and taking the book into her hands. What was interesting was that it was opened to the page that contained a picture of two boys; one of them looked like a younger version of Atem, the other had white hair, a scar on his right eye and wore a long red cloak lined with gold. From what she could see, it was if they were holding hands and smiling...how cute.

"What are you doing, Goddess?" Atem asked as he saw May turning the pages of the book, seeing a tale of the two boys growing up and of a kingdom in flames. The book soon came onto an empty page near the very end. There was some silence as May rubbed her chin in thought, trying to figure out how to explain what was on her mind.

_Some goddess I am._ She said in her mind. _Now what do I do?_

"Is something wrong?" A voice asked her. May nodded her head, not looking at who was talking to her.

"Yeah..." she replied. "I've been trying to explain my dream..." May looked at the empty pages some more as moonlight shone over her and the book. "In my dream...I'm swimming in the ocean with many types of Pokémon like Chinchou, Mantine and Luvdisc swim by. Then, Manaphy, the Prince of the Sea appeared to me, and that's when I saw it..." Her arms started to tremble as the nightmare came back to her. "A giant shadow that looked like a giant Arbok or Seviper started to destroy Samiya...and Manaphy went toward it..." She closed her eyes shut as she said the last lines. "I cried for Manaphy to come back, but then I woke up. Oh Manaphy..."

She soon felt arms wrap around her neck and a finger wipe away a tear that was falling down her eye. Slowly letting her eyelids open, May looked up to see someone embracing her. She did a double take, before staring at the book. But instead of empty pages...the pages were filled with the scenes from her dream. It looked as if it was drawn with crayon, but everything—the Mantine, Chinchou and Luvdisc, the small image of her swimming in a pink ocean and Manaphy swimming to Samiya—was as if someone had perfectly interpreted the entire dream.

"What is this?" May gasped. "How is this even possible? How does it know about..."

"The Tome of Hamunaptra's Reveries and Revelry shows your images and replays your emotions." A deep voice answered. "Something fitting for our beloved Goddess of Joy..."

May, now realizing that someone had been embracing her for quite some time, turned to see whose arms were around her stomach. She screamed, and immediately dove for the flashlight on the ground, shining it at whoever had hugged her. The figure covered his eyes when the light appeared, and May saw that it was an older version of the white haired boy she saw in the book. Just like in the drawing, the person wore a red cloak with golden lines across the sleeves and end of the fabric, a white cotton strip of cloth wrapped around his waist and golden sash, tan skin and a scar across the right eye. And just like Atem, he too had wings: ones which looked like dead tree branches or perhaps blackened bones.

"Turn that thing off!" The man snapped. May didn't understand what he meant by 'that thing', but then she looked down at the flashlight. She immediately pressed the button, and the darkness returned (minus the gentle moonlight, of course.) May calmed down before grabbing the book from the boxes. The scene of her swimming in the ocean, and Manaphy's journey to Samiya...it was real...and the man in front of her must've been real also...this was becoming one strange night.

"Goddess," May looked up to see Atem walk toward the two. "Forgive me, I did not introduce my friend yet." He placed a hand on the white haired man's—or as May put it, monster's—shoulder "This is Kura, the Thief Lord of Ancient Egypt."

Kura bowed toward May, his expression was of one addressing authority. She didn't buy it. Before she became a Pokémon Coordinator, she took a few years in elementary school. One of the things she knew about thieves was that it was highly unlikely they would be so friendly around rulers.

"Thief?!" she exclaimed. "And a Pharaoh?! Together?! That...that doesn't make any sense!"

"Tch." Kura said in response. "Well, you've grown up to be a cheeky little falcon, haven't you?"

"Huh?" May blinked twice. "Have we met before?"

Atem nudged his elbow into Kura's ribs when she asked the question. For a moment, it was if Atem shook his head in disapproval. Kura cleared his throat.

"No...you don't," he corrected. "I was just thinking of someone in my past. The two of you looked so similar."

"It's strange," May noted, tilting her head to the side. "But it feels like this isn't the first time we met. I mean that..."

She was interrupted by a small squeaking sound. May turned her head to her right and nearly screamed at the site. It was a brown fur ball with huge eyes and claws.

"Kuri! Kuri!" It cried as it bounced onto May's lap. The little creature cooed as May ran her hand through the creature's fur. "Kuri..."

"Well, hello there, Kuriboh," Atem chuckled, kneeling down near his supposed 'Goddess'. "How have you been doing?"

"Kuri! Kuri!" Kuriboh squeaked, cooing at the Pharaoh stroking its head. "Kuri!"

Kura sat down, but didn't look at the little monster. Kuriboh squeaked a hello before bouncing toward the Pokémon Coordinator.

"Kuriboh, huh?" May replied as she wrapped her arms around it. "That's so cute!" She was about to give a kiss to her new friend before she recalled Atem's words. "Atem, what about this great evil that's about to come?"

"Yes, 'Farrow'," Kura asked, rolling his eyes. "What's this great evil?"

Atem snarled a bit, but couldn't help but let a smile creep on his lips before he answered May's question.

"An ancient monster that uses the souls of humans and monsters," Atem explained. "It is said that the great Gods will be used to power this behemoth, and once the soul of the dark king arrives, then all is lost."

"The dark king?" May repeated. Then she remembered the person on the cover of the magazine, and how it resembled Atem, all the way down the Millennium Puzzle on its chain. "Wait, do you mean..."

As if he could read her thoughts, Atem nodded his head, a sigh escaping his lips.

"Before I explain the evil, Kura and I have a story to tell," he explained. "Come, we must indulge in some history."

Grabbing the book, Atem flipped the pages back to the beginning, where there was a picture of three pyramids nestled in the sand under a warm Egyptian sun. The Kuriboh in May's arms cooed a bit, because it was too dark.

"Oh," The Pokémon Coordinator replied as she picked up her flashlight. She clicked it on as the cone of light shined on the pages.

"5000 years ago," Atem explained. "An evil spread on the land that massacred everyone in the village of Kul Eruna, Kura's hometown. Everyone was killed except for Kura himself, who managed to hide amongst the chaos."

May looked at the Thief Lord, noticing that there was a tear falling down his eye. Kura's grey eyes saw this and he immediately turned his face away from the young girl.

"It was horrible," he whispered. "They were made to make the Millennium Items...gold mixed with the bones, blood and souls of 99 people...my hometown...it was destroyed in one day."

May gasped in surprise. A part of her wondered if Yugi knew about the atrocity, and another part felt nothing but sorrow and pity for the Thief Lord. She went and hugged him, wrapping the older man in a gentle embrace, tears forming in her eyes.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered. "I don't know what it felt like to lose everything that day, but I want you to know that if you ever need someone, I'll be there."

There was some silence before May felt arms embracing her, his black skeletal wings lightly brushing against her from the unexpected hug. She continued to hug the spirit all the same, one hand stroking a wing. Kuriboh floated toward the Thief Lord, cooing sadly.

"Thank you." Kura whispered in-between his sobs. "Thank you, Goddess..."

"You're welcome," May replied. After a few more seconds of tears, the Thief Lord removed himself from the younger girl. May could see that there was a smile on his face now.

"Goddess," said Atem. "Would you mind if I continued the story?"

May nodded her head. "Go ahead; I want to know more about you."

"This is where I come in," Atem continued, turning the book to a page with a younger Pharaoh and Thief Lord meeting in some ruins. "I ran away from my father and explored the ruins of the village, hearing someone crying. That's when we met...and when everything soon fell."

"What do you mean?"

"Every now and then the two of us went on adventures," said Kura, preparing to flip toward the next page. "But one day, the two of us encountered a being known as..."

"May?" interrupted a voice from the outside. "Are you in there? And who are you talking to?"

May's voice reached her throat when she heard the voice of her brother. Lifting the flashlight to the doorknob, she saw that her brother was trying open the door.

"Oh no!" May whispered. "My brother...What do we do?!"

"I wanted to show you something I found in the magazine! Take a look!" May crawled to the door, seeing two cards slide under the crack. "Aren't these awesome?!"

"Why are you awake, Max?!" May hissed as she stared at the three spirits before looking at the cards. One had an orange border, and the other was yellow. She flipped them to show a black oval on the center while orange yellow lines curved near the shape.

"I couldn't sleep!" Max explained. "Shuppet brought me the magazine and I started reading it. Apparently, monsters with an orange border are monsters with special effects, and yellow border cards are Normal monsters with no effects. Then there are blue cards which are monsters used with Ritual spells, and purple cards who are called 'Fusion Monsters' that need a card known as Polymerization to activate. Then there are green cards that are magic cards, and magenta cards which are traps! Isn't that neat?"

"Very interesting, Max." May replied, picked up the cards and staring at them. Then she had an idea, handing the cards to Atem.

"Say," she whispered to him. "Is it possible if...if..."

"What is it Goddess?" asked the Pharaoh.

May looked away for a second at the name before whispering something in his ear. The Pharaoh nodded his head in reply as he soon grabbed onto the cards.

"Still trying to please her after all these years, eh?" Kura said with a grin. "You always were calling her a 'beautiful thing' and that she was 'always cheerful'." Atem, in response to that, shoved one of the cards to his "friend's" chest.

"Goddess," Atem said to May. "We will use these cards as a way to communicate with you, would you like that?" May didn't know how to respond except by nodding her head.

"Good, now hold still." May stepped back and watched as both Atem and Kura were chanting some sort of ancient spell that seemed familiar, like a memory from long ago.. The abandoned book had its pages flapping about as orbs flew around the two spirits. The Kuriboh bounced to May's side, giving her a small wink before it disappeared into sparkles of light.

"May, what's with the light?" Max replied through the door. May couldn't answer as the orbs soon became cards; some had green borders, others had magenta, but most of them were orange and yellow (she did spy one blue one though). The girl couldn't help but smile at the site, but was soon interrupted by a familiar Pokémon.

"Shuppet!" May blinked her eyes and snapped out of her trance when she saw the Puppet Pokémon staring in interest at the site. The Coordinator looked at the scene of the Thief Lord and Pharaoh slowly starting to disappear. Then, there was nothing left of them; there were only two cards floating down. May and Shuppet looked in awe as the Coordinator stared at the now blank book and then grasp the two Duel Monster cards into her hands.

_Do not worry, Goddess...all you have to do is carry these cards close, and we will come answer you. We are always by your side_.

May gasped but slowly nodded when she heard Atem's voice echo in her mind. Shuppet stared at the pieces of paper in interest and a blue outline surrounded it body.

"Shuppet!" it replied as the cards started to float into the air and encircle the young girl. Stretching her hands out, the cards flew into her hands until they formed a deck. In all, May counted around ten to twenty cards created.

Then, the door opened. Max came in, gasping for breath. The dueling magazine was in his hands as he approached his sister. Shuppet smiled and floated toward its trainer.

"May, what was going on?" Max asked his sister. He then noticed all of the cards in her hand. "Hey! Where did you get those cards?"

"Um," May replied, trying to come up with a good story. "I...I found them in my bed!" she explained. "And I didn't want to surprise you, so I went downstairs to get a good look at them. What about you?"

Max opened the magazine and showed it to his sister. Using the flashlight, May let it shine amongst a picture of a yellow building with a green roof. The word "KAME" was shown in purple letters, and a sign with a green turtle and arrow was near the door.

"This is the Game Shop where Yugi lives in," he explained. "His grandfather was his inspiration to duel...so maybe we can get Duel Disks and some new cards there also! And maybe there are cards in my bed too!"

"Who knows?" May asked in response. She then looked at her brother, glad that she could have someone to talk to when she was feeling down. She didn't know whether it was the right time to tell him about Atem and Kura, but that would be a subject for the morning. "Hey Max, can I read the magazine?"

"Sure!" Max replied. A mischievous smile was on his face as he added, "...if you let me see those cards in your hand."

May was hesitant, not wanting to reveal to her brother what transpired a few minutes ago. But she needed to see what was in store for them, and that meant revealing some of the stuff that she had leaned. With a sigh, she handed the cards to her brother while Max handed her the magazine in exchange.

"Let's see," the younger boy muttered under his breath while Shuppet looked at the cards in curiosity. "That's weird. Some of the monsters look just like...like them!" He pointed to a spread-out on the magazine, revealing some of the top duelists in the world. May leaned close, knowing what her brother meant, but not knowing a way to explain it.

"Don't look at me, I didn't design them," she said with a shrug of her shoulders. "Anyway, it's getting late. Can you promise to give me those cards in the morning?"

Max nodded his head as Shuppet also nodded in approval.

"Great..." May tried to stifle a yawn, but it came out either way. "Well, it's time for bed."

"You're right," Max replied as the three started to leave the basement. They silently crept back into the hallways, until they were at the doors of their own rooms.

"Good night," The two siblings said to each other before closing their doors shut. And all was quiet…

Or it would've been if one door hadn't opened minutes later, one sibling stepped out of the hallway and rushed to the basement.

**0-0-0-0-0**

Morning arrived earlier than expected. May stretched her arms as she stared at the magazine that was at the edge of the bed. She smiled as she quickly read the information that it contained: the symbols that were shown on spell and trap cards, different types of strategies to be used in duels, and information of the Battle City Tournament. It was very interesting, and it made her excited to head off to Domino even more.

"Goddess?" May looked up to see the figure of Atem staring at her, his wings spread out in the morning sunlight. She nearly screamed, but quickly recalled what transpired the night before and placed a hand over her mouth.. She slowed her rapidly beating heart by taking more deep breaths. "Are you alright?"

May placed her hand on her lap and nodded her head.

"Well, a bit," she replied. "But about that great evil that might be affecting Manaphy and Samiya, do you know anything about it? You told me a different story before then, and I don't want that. I want to know what the great evil is and how it relates to Manaphy and Samiya! There just has to be something I can do to save them!"

Atem sighed. May knew from that alone that it was a sign of some more bad news.

"Well..." the pharaoh began. "I do not know what is going on, but my theory is that this evil is feeding on other sources of power. This 'Samiya' must be very powerful, and Manaphy—who is somehow related to Samiya—is now going to be nothing but energy for the beast to feed off on."

May gasped at the thought. Manaphy, the Seafaring Pokémon whom May had to give up so it could go home...and how it said goodbye to her...and the thoughts of it being used for evil...tears fell down her eyes at the thought.

"No...no that can't be!" she cried out. "Manaphy...Manaphy!" Many tears fell down her eyes and onto the floor as she asked, "Why, Atem? Why?"

Seeing her sad, Atem sat down at the edge of the bed and wrapped May in a gentle embrace, the wings lightly covering the young girl and wiping a tear that fell down her face.

"I do not know, Goddess," he murmured. "But I promise you that Kura and I, and all of the cards in your hands, will protect you and help you save both this Manaphy and Samiya."

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. May got out of bed and opened it, seeing her brother falling on top of her. Max was clinging onto her sister's legs, panting for breath. Tears were filling his eyes as Shuppet floated near May; the Puppet Pokémon had small frown on its face as May began to comfort her brother.

"What's wrong, Max?" asked May. "Is everything alright?" Max slowly shook his head and sniffled. "What is it?"

"It's...Jirachi..." he croaked. "I had a dream that Jirachi was talking to me...he was asleep, but he spoke in my mind. He told me that an evil presence is coming...but just as I was about to ask what it was, someone...someone in a hooded cloak with strange blue and yellow eyes took Jirachi away! I tried to stop him, but some sort of green magic made them disappear! What does this mean?!"

"I don't know, Max," May replied. "But whatever happens, that person won't get away with it. We saved Jirachi and Manaphy already and we stopped Team Aqua and Team Magma from destroying the world. If we can do that, nothing can stop us!"

Max wiped the tears from his eyes.

"You really think so?" he asked.

"I know so," May turned around to see Atem walking toward them, completely forgetting that he was there. "With the Goddess of Joy, she will bring us happiness."

Max cried in terror seeing the Pharaoh and hid behind May, his eyes wide at seeing this strange person.

"Wh...who is he?" he whimpered. "Is he a ghost?

"He's a good guy, don't worry," May explained, standing up. "Max, meet Atem, the Ancient Pharaoh. Atem, this is my brother Max. Come on, don't be shy."

Max stepped forward, swallowing a lump in his throat as he stood in front of the Pharaoh.

"H-hi there..." Max said shyly. "Nice to meet you."

"Likewise, brother of the Goddess of Joy," Atem replied, bowing toward Max. Max felt somewhat awkward having someone bow to him, but he brought his hand to the Pharaoh's and gasped when he felt the warmth through the skin. Then, out of curiosity, Max brought his fingers against the edge of one of Atem's dark wings. Shuppet noticed this, cocking its head to the side in confusion.

"Shuppet?" it replied. "Shup..."

May laughed a bit at the site-she had to admit that it was pretty cute. Then, she remembered something.

"Atem," she said to the Pharaoh. "What were you saying about that story with you and the Thief Lord?"

"Thief Lord?" Max asked. No sooner than he said that, a figure appeared out of the wall with white hair, tanned skin and those blackened branch-like wings. "No way..."

Kura just glanced at Max, the boy gulping when he saw that scar across the thief's face, before turning his gaze back at May. Max looked in confusion between the two.

"Max," May began. "Those cards you saw last night?" Max nodded his head as she looked away from him. "Welllllll, I lied...they weren't given by mom and dad...they were created by these two..." she motioned to the two Egyptians. "They created the cards from the information and cards you gave me. I haven't been able to see any of them, but...now isn't the time..." The Pokémon Coordinator turned to the Thief Lord. "Kura, about that story last night...what was that being you and Atem found?"

"The being we found was the one known as Gandora, Dragon of Destruction," Atem answered. "His soul had been trapped for years, and when he found us…" At this, he brought his arm out and his wings stretched out. "He yearned for a soul to bind with his so that he could live. And that soul was me. Meanwhile, Kura had been taken away, vanished into the shadows when he tried to save me."

"But how did he...get those wings?" asked Max, looking at how the Thief Lord looked like a dark beast ready to swoop down and send someone to the realm of darkness if he wished to.

"That's a story for another time," Kura answered, his black wings folding back. "But let's just say that I had to face many trials to escape the shadows and slayed the beast that once flew in the sky with these wings."

"What happened next?" May whispered.

"The dragon's soul slept within me until the Day of the Dark Sun," Atem answered. "Egypt was set into ruins, and Gandora awoke to destroy the dark monsters that were brought forth. Unfortunately, because my soul was bound to the dragon, I was nearly killed off as a result.

"Fortunately, Kura had found me just in time and carried me to my palace where the priests performed a ritual that would split my soul in half: one half would be sealed off to fight any remains of the darkness in the future while the other one would be sent into Hamunaptra and protect the balance between the Shadow Realm and the Mortal Realm. Kura also came along to ensure that there would be someone to aid me, and his soul had also been split in half, sealed inside the Millennium Ring."

"'Millennium Ring'?" May and Max repeated, looking at each other.

"Another long story," Atem answered. "But if you want to know just _where_ my other half was sealed. Look no further than what you hold in your hand, Goddess."

There was some more silence as both siblings stared at the magazine in May's hands. May closed the magazine and looked in shock.

"Your soul was sealed in…" May looked at the magazine cover and stared at the Millennium Puzzle dangling over Yugi's neck, and how Yugi's image looked exactly like Atem. "The Millennium Puzzle…" she whispered.

"So that means Yugi Muto has unlocked your other half, Atem!" Max gasped, piecing everything together. "And we're going to Domino City...that means we can tell Yugi all about you and..."

"Under no circumstance are we to tell that information," Atem interrupted, narrowing his eyes. "If we tell such crucial information to him, then I fear dangerous things will happen...no matter what, that information must be kept a secret, understand?"

Max and May looked at each other before nodding their heads in reply. They closed their eyes and crossed their hearts before opening their eyes once more. Then, that was when May remembered something else.

"Kura," she said. "You said that the book is called 'The Tome of Hamunpatra's Reveries and Revelry.' And you mentioned being sent into the Shadow Realm. Why is that?"

"Wait, you mean _this_ book?" Max pulled out something from his backpack (which May finally realized he had on hand)-an old tome marked with a blue eye. May gasped.

"Max!" she hissed, looking at the book. "How did you-"

"While you were looking at the magazine, I took a peek at the book behind you," Max answered with an all-knowing grin. "Then, once I knew you were asleep, I snuck back to the basement and took the book into my hands. I couldn't believe what I was reading though: I mean, it was like I could see the glyphs become images in my head and-"

"Explain later." May interrupted. "What's this 'Hamunaptra' that you mentioned, Kyra?"

"Hamunaptra is the capital city of the Shadow Realm where monsters and humans live together," Kura answered. "It is where those who pass on from the Mortal Realm go, a paradise for the weary souls, the weak, the helpless...a place where the Dark King of the Afterlife slumbers and dreams of shadows and light. Should he awaken, then it is the time when the gates of Hamunpatra and the Mortal Realm open and paradise will awaken to all. That is when he announces his prophecies to both the living and the dead, and all shall abide by his word."

"Sounds like an amazing place." said May, awestruck. "But how did you become part of the book? And how was the book made?"

"The Dark King opened his eyes one day thousands of years ago," Atem thought wistfully. "He had seen something in his dreams, of the day that that a dark force would come to destroy the Mortal Realm. He had tasked Kura and I, along with many other important gods and beings of Hamunaptra, to rest within the Tome of Reveries and Revelry until someone would come to open up and awaken us once more."

"And that is leading to my second question-_how_ did this book end up in our house?"

There was an uncomfortable silence as Max looked at the book, the question sinking into his mind. It had never occurred to him that the book had been left in the basement of their house, where their parents could've easily have picked it up and read it themselves.

"She's right," he said slowly. "How _did_ a book such as this end up in Petalburgh City?"

Before Atem or Kura could utter something, Shuppet had appeared out of thin air with a smile on its face.

"Shuppet!" it cried as a collection of cards floated around it, being held in the air with a Psychic attack.

"My cards!" May replied as she held out her hands. Shuppet then let the cards land in a messy pile until the last card landed on top. "Thank you, Shuppet!"

"Shuppet!" said the Ghost Pokémon. The sounds of footsteps got everyone's attention; May turned to see Atem and Kura disappearing in front of her eyes just like they did before.

"May, Max," Caroline replied as she entered May's bedroom. "What's going on? Why aren't you getting ready for breakfast?"

"We...we were just thinking about what were were going to do when we reached Domino City!" Max replied quickly, placing the book behind his back.. "It'll be great to have a break from Pokémon for a while, won't it May?"

"Y-yeah..." May answered. "But, we should still bring all of our Pokémon so they could see a non-Pokémon town. Please, mom?"

"Please?" Max chimed in while Shuppet also asked. Caroline could only laugh at them

"Well, why not?" she answered.. "But make sure that you eat breakfast before then. After that, wash up and pack your bags; you'll be heading to Domino City on the first cable car before noon!"

"HOORAY!" May and Max cheered.

"But first, can I see that book you had in your hands, Max?"

The siblings looked in shock as their mother approached the bed and saw the book Max couldn't hide in time. The two began to sweat as she took the book into her hands and flipped through a few pages, the two crossing their fingers and praying that their mother couldn't see, or read, anything involving Hamunaptra, Atem, Kura, Gandora, and anything else that they hadn't learned about and wanted to learn later.

_Please don't find out..._the two thought as they watched their mother close the book. Caroline smiled.

"It's an interesting story book let me tell you," she said, handing it back to Max. "I bet you two will have fun reading it during your stay at Domino."

"Of course!" Max laughed sheepishly, taking the book back. "After all, no harm ever came from reading a book."

**0-0-0-0-0**

Usually, both May and Max would take the time to smell the flowers. But not today; they were excited to head for Domino City, partially because of the concept of Duel Monsters, and also partially because of meeting Yugi Muto and the Millennium Puzzle around his neck. They quickly finished their breakfast, took a hot shower, packed up some belongings for their trip, and then dressed themselves in some brand new clothes just for the occasion.

May was already dressed in a similar version of her old red outfit: it contained a blue shirt with a black collar and a white line going down the middle. A white Poké ball was on the right side of the blouse and two white diagonal lines were at the end of the blouse, where there was a triangle cut so it would expose her navel. She still wore her bike shorts, but her sneakers were blue and she even had black socks covering her ankles. Her gloves didn't change a bit, except at the end was a blue stripe in the middle of the elastic. Her bandanna was also blue with two white rectangles sewn on to look like dashes. She even had her yellow waist pack where she was placing five Poké balls into one of the pouches. As she adjusted her bandanna she took a glance at the magazine on her bed, and silently prayed that Manaphy was doing all right.

Max was also finishing his own Domino City preparations, throwing a yellow jacket over a brown shirt. He also dressed in blue shorts just like his sister, and his regular sneakers. Packing some spare clothes in his backpack, he couldn't help but laugh at the fun they were going to have...but then the images of Jirachi being taken away frightened him, interrupting his happy thoughts. How could he be so excited when his best friend was going to be used in some nefarious plot?

"Shuppet?" Shuppet replied, seeing Max's sad face. "Shuppet!" Max gasped to see his backpack floating in midair, straining a bit from how heavy it was before flying off. Max tried to jump for it, but Shuppet was faster..

"Come back here!" Max cried as he left his room in pursuit of his backpack. He soon was lead outside of the house and into his father's greenhouse, the door being left wide open.

"Shuppet!" Shuppet said in reply as it used its Psychic powers to drop the backpack onto the ground. Max picked it up and let his arms hook beneath the yellow straps.

"Shuppet, were you trying to cheer me up?" Max asked the Puppet Pokémon. Shuppet didn't respond, but it was grinning all the same. Max smiled and stretched his arms, inviting his friend for a hug.

"Thank you," Max replied. "That was very nice."

"Vigoroth, use Slash!" cried Norman. Max and Shuppet turned to see the Wild Monkey Pokémon using its black claws to slice at a tree. With two swipes, the tree fell down with a thud. Vigoroth smiled proudly at what he accomplished.

"Hey, Vigoroth!" said Max as he ran up to his father. "That was an awesome attack!"

"Vigor?" The white ape replied as he turned to see the young boy. "Vigoroth!" The Normal-type Pokémon soon ran toward Max and gave it a hug. Max could only laugh at the sign of affection.

"It seems Vigoroth has a thing for you, Max," said Norman. Then an idea came to his head; he rummaged through his pockets and brought out a regular Poké ball. "And I've been thinking, what do you say if you train it for a while?"

"Really?" Max asked in surprise. He turned to Vigoroth. "Would you like to go to Domino City?" The Pokémon in question nodded it head in approval as Max grinned from ear-to-ear. "Then I guess it's settled!"

Norman took his son's hand into his own and handed him the Pokeball. "Train Vigoroth well," The Gym Leader simply stated. "I can count on you to help it grow."

"I promise dad!" Max replied as he stepped back. "Vigoroth, return!" A red beam appeared from the sphere and hit Vigoroth. The Wild Monkey Pokémon transformed into a beam of light and entered the Pokeball as Max smiled to himself.

"All right!" he cried, doing the same victory pose Ash usually did whenever he caught a Pokémon. "I have a Vigoroth!"

"That's awesome!" Max turned to see his sister coming toward him. She carried a few bags in hand and Beautifly was perched on top of her head. "You get to train one of Dad's Pokémon!"

"I know!" Max said in glee. "And now I can bring it to Domino and show it what a town outside of Petalburg looks like!"

"Just make sure that Vigoroth is fed with fresh grass and fruit." said Norman, patting his son on the head. "Now come on you two, we need to get you to the cable car."

"Right!" May and Max replied. Both Beautifly and Shuppet nodded their heads in reply.

**0-0-0-0-0**

Norman and Caroline brought their children to the train station, both May and Max chatting away at the idea of Duel Monsters and perhaps having a chance to duel before their time was up. But deep down, the siblings were worried about their friends Jirachi and Manaphy, just hoping that whoever was targeting them made sure that the young legendaries were safe.

"I have a gift for you, May," said Caroline, handing her a box tied up with a bow. "Open it up and see what's inside."

"Hmm…" May untied the ribbon and lifted the lid to find a variety of Berries, a mini Berry Blender and Pokéblock Case, and a recipe book just for her. "What is this?"

"Your very own Pokéblock Kit!" Caroline answered. "This mini Berry Blender means you can go blend Pokéblocks without having to find a blender in Domino. It's to make sure you're able to prepare for your future contests after you return from your trip."

"Thanks mom," May answered, giving her mom a hug.

"Attention," a voice said through the speakers. "The train is about to head off to Domino City. All Passengers prepare their tickets and proceed to the marked areas." The whooshing sound of the train getting ready to leave caught the attention of everyone in the station. May and Max entered the cable car, carrying their luggage with them, and began to wave goodbye.

"Goodbye then!" Norman cried, while May and Max waved to him. "Behave yourselves!"

"Don't get into too much trouble!" Caroline added.

The doors to Cable Car 2A slid open, and the line of people soon started to enter the vehicle. May and Max soon took their seats, looking at the window behind them to the scenery below. Hearing the doors close, the cable car soon moved, carrying its passengers to their destinations. May placed her new gifts into her rolling suitcase.

"A journey to Domino City," said Max as he noticed May looking at Atem's Duel Monster card. "I just wish that we can get some answers about Manaphy and Jirachi."

May gripped her brother's hand with her own, squeezing it tight. "Me too, Max. Me too."

"But until then…" Max smirked as he brought his backpack out and unzipped it. He pulled out a large item and showed it to May. "I think it's time for us to do a bit of reading."

"Max!" May whispered, covering the book with her hands. "You brought that book with you?"

"You heard what Mom said. And besides…" Max opened the book depicting a figure with closed eyes and their hands crossed against their chest.. "You can't tell me that you're _not _curious about what type of stories are in here, aren't you?"

"Well...I _am_ a bit curious. And there's no harm reading in this book."

"There you go. Now, let's start reading about this Dark King of the Afterlife…"

**0-0-0-0-0**

Standing on the roof of Domino High School, a teenage girl with short brown hair, dressed in a pink sailor uniform and blue skirt, let the palm of her hand rest against the chain-linked fence. She stared at the sun that was letting its rays reach against the bright blue sky. The wind whistled softly, blowing against her hair as a sigh escaped her lips. She watched a flock of blue feathered birds with cloud-like wings fly by, some nestling on top of skyscrapers, and others who hid behind the treetops. She turned as she saw one land near her feet, blinking its beady eyes at her, before soaring into the air once more. Téa sometimes wished that she could be a bird, soaring high and to be able to travel the world.

"Téa?"

Téa, the girl in question, turned to see two boys coming toward her. One had blonde messy hair and brown eyes, the other had brown hair jutted to a spike and grey eyes. Both of them were also in uniform: blue pants, brown shoes and a white shirt with a blue coat on top of it.

"What's wrong?" The blonde boy asked, his voice laced with a Brooklyn accent. "Anything the matter?"

"No, Joey. I'm fine," Téa answered back. "I'm… I'm just thinking about something."

"About what?" The brunette asked. Téa stayed quiet before letting out a sigh.

"It's...about Yugi, Tristan," she answered. "He hasn't been himself lately...and I'm worried that something's wrong."

"Cheer up," said Joey, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Let's find him and figure out what's going on! We are friends after all!"

"Friends until the end!" Tristan added. "Never forget that!"

Téa smiled and nodded her head.

"You're right!" she replied. "Let's go and find him."

**0-0-0-0-0**

Hours later, May and Max exited the train, stretching their arms and legs as they placed the tome back into Max's backpack and pretended that they hadn't finished reading five or six stories in regards to Hamunaptra. They walked out of the station and soon saw many people walking toward the entrance to Domino City, awed at how lively it was and curious to see if there were people wearing Duel Disks and dueling one another. As they crossed the street, they unknowingly passed a teenage boy with tri-colored spiky hair wearing a blue school uniform—they were so enamored with Domino City to pay attention to their surroundings.

"This is awesome!" Max said while walking across the city. "It looks like a regular town! Who could believe that it would become so famous thanks to a children's card game?"

"Just look at the magazine, and it'll tell you." said May, showing their copy of **Duelist Monthly**. "Apparently, there's this guy named 'Seto Kaiba' who's the CEO of Kaiba Corp. He's well known for creating the Duel Disk, its hologram programs and known for handling shipments of Duel Monster cards."

"So it's just like Devon Corp," said Max, recalling his adventure and how he fought against a member of Team Aqua back at Rustboro City. "I wonder if we could get a sneak peek and see what Kaiba's creating."

"I doubt it," May muttered. "I mean, he looks like one of the guys who's very secretive about his work."

She stopped as she turned a page in the magazine. It landed on the picture of the Kame Game Shop. An idea came to mind.

"Say, why don't we head off to the Game Shop and get us some decks?" she said, closing the magazine. "That way we can try and duel a couple of people here before heading back home."

"Good idea, May!" Max replied. "And it'll help us learn some of the landmarks in the area!" He immediately began to run, his backpack slightly bouncing with each step. "Last one to the shop is a rotten Pokémon egg!"

"Wait for me, Max!" The Pokémon Coordinator called back, chasing after her brother while one hand was gripping onto the basket of berries. She couldn't help but laugh at the fun that could happen.

_Goddess.._.May gasped when she heard that voice. _Please be very, very careful...dark forces are coming..._

"Really, Atem?" May replied, still chasing after her brother, who was oblivious to what was happening. "But...I don't sense anything at all..."

_Just because you don't sense it, doesn't mean it's not there..._ Kura replied in the young girl's mind. _Just make sure that whatever you do, do not do anything..._

"Look, May! There's the Game Shop!" May stopped as she found her brother pointing to the very same building from the magazine. "Let's go get our decks!"

"All right!" said May as her younger brother opened the door. _Maybe there's nothing to worry about. _She thought to herself. _I mean, it doesn't feel like anything has gone wrong..._

Both siblings entered and looked around the small shop, seeing glass display cases stuffed with cards, action figures and many other games waiting to be bought. Posters depicting humans fighting zombies or dragons releasing fiery breaths from their mouths were taped across the wall. Sitting behind one of the counters was an elderly man with spiked grey hair covered with an orange bandanna. A kind smile was on his face when he saw the two siblings approach him.

"Welcome to the Kame Game Shop!" he said, introducing the two. "I am known as Solomon Muto, grandfather of the famous duelist Yugi Muto. How can I assist you today?"

"Hi there, Mr. Muto!" said May, bowing to the man. "My name's May, and this is my brother Max from Petalburgh City." She pointed to her younger brother, who was staring at the display case in front of them. "We've come to visit Domino City for a week, and we wanted to buy some Duel disks and cards."

"You don't say," said Solomon with a chuckle. "Kids these days, always so eager to learn..."

"May has a few cards she wants to show you!" Max added. "She wants to find some cards that would go along with them!"

"Max, stop embarrassing me!" May replied, her face showing a red tinge. Nevertheless, she let her fingers go into one of the pouches of her waist pack, pulling out the cards she received the night before. She then spread them across for the old man to see. "What do you think?"

"Hmmm..." Solomon replied, rubbing his chin. He then picked up the cards carefully, inspecting them one by one. May and Max gulped, trying to make sure that the shop owner didn't find anything wrong with what he was seeing. After a couple of minutes, the old man let out a hearty laugh.

"I must say," Solomon said to himself, placing the cards into a neat pile. "Pegasus has a good sense of humor when he created these cards. It was as if they were telling me a story of an ancient evil!" May and Max looked each other, sighing in relief as the old man continued. "Now let's see...I think the best thing for now is to form a Gravekeeper's Deck to go with your Ancient Pharaoh."

"'Gravekeeper's?" To May, it had some sort of ring to it, of power and sorcery that only certain people could know about.

"When the Pharaoh died, there had to be people who would protect his tomb from those who would rob him of a peaceful afterlife," Solomon explained. "So these Gravekeepers' would vow to protect the Pharaoh's legacy for all eternity. I think that these monsters would go great and compliment your Ancient Pharaoh perfectly. What do you think?"

"Well, we all have to start somewhere," May shrugged her shoulders as Solomon pulled out an extensive card album from behind the counter. May began to look through it, her eyes scanning for interesting cards to make a deck, fingers tracing the images. Some cards would give her a tingling sensation, others would give her nothing, and thus she would point to specific cards that gave her good sensations, almost as if the cards wanted May to choose them. Max also took glances every now and then, giving May suggestions on what would best fit the cards in her possession.

"I want to have my own deck too!" said Max. "How about me, Mr. Muto? I don't have any cards myself, but I don't mind any type of deck."

"Are you sure about that, young man?" Solomon asked the young boy. "Neither you or your sister have ever dueled before from the looks of it. Duel Monsters is about strategy and luck...you need to know how to use your cards wisely, or else you won't be able to have a good deck."

"Just like Pokémon battles or Pokémon contests," said Max murmured under his breath. "If you don't have a strategy, then you won't be able to defeat your opponents."

He sighed, but then remembered the magazine May was carrying. Seeing her occupied with the deck she had in her hands, the young boy pulled the magazine from under the arm of the Coordinator, and began to skim through its pages. After a few minutes, that was when he noticed an article regarding something called "Spell Counters".

"Spell Counters." He quickly read through it, looking at all of the details of monsters that were capable of wielding these Spell Counters. What truly intrigued him was the card that was used as an example: a young girl with white hair and wearing a white robe with blue lining, wielding a scepter in her hands. It was known as "Silent Magician LV 4."

"I want a Spell Counter deck, Mr. Muto!" Max announced suddenly, placing the magazine on the counter. "Can I have one, please?"

Solomon stared at the article, trying to understand the abilities of these cards. He looked at the young boy, whose eyes were filled with excitement before laughing once more.

"My, you are quite adventurous!" Solomon began. "You remind me of myself when I was younger.

Always seeking for adventure, taking risks, seeking thrills...but I have no doubt that a Spell Counter deck is the best for you!"

"Thank you very much, sir!" said Max with delight.

From behind the glass counter, Solomon pulled out a small tin box with a deck of cards in it. The box was labeled "Special Magic" and in front was a copy of the Silent Magician LV 4 monster. Max gasped when the box was taken into his hands, delighted to have his own deck as he began to rummage through the cards inside.

May placed the Gravekeeper deck onto the counter. "Thanks for letting me look at the deck." She replied. "But, is there other ways to get cards?"

"Yes, there are also booster packs." Solomon explained. "Each pack comes with five cards that can be used to help strengthen the deck. They come under different groups like 'Magician's Force' and 'Power of the Beasts' which have cards related to the title. Why, just recently I received some Booster Packs from the 'Ancient Ruler' pack, and I think they might fit perfectly with your decks."

"But, we don't have any money to pay for this," said Max, soon realizing that none of them had any cash on them. He groaned. "How are we supposed to pay for the cards _and_ our Duel Disks?"

Solomon laughed. "You two are nice kids, so I'll cut you a deal: All you have to do is pay for the decks I give you, and your Duel disks and Booster packs are free!"

"That's so nice of you!" May exclaimed. "How much do we owe you?"

"You don't own me anything right now," Solomon answered. "Let's just say that I'll collect my debt in a later time." Both brother and sister looked in confusion as the old man went to a shelf where Duel Disks sat. As he did so, Max let out a gasp.

"Wait a minute!" he said. "Mom and Dad forgot to tell us where we'll be staying for the week!" May gasped at that; since she had been so focused over Atem and the story of Hamunaptra, she too had forgotten to ask where they would reside in Domino. How could she had been thinking of playing a card game when shelter was more important?

"You don't have a place to stay?" asked Solomon. May and Max nodded their heads in reply to the question. Solomon smiled before he continued. "What's say that you stay with me and my grandson for the week? It's not much, but if you want a place to stay..."

"We shouldn't," May interrupted. "You're already doing so much for us. We shouldn't overstay our welcome."

"Nonsense! We rarely have guests staying over, and it would be nice for Yugi to meet you two. What do you say? Are you in?"

May and Max stared at each other for a while before replying with a 'yes'.

"Thank you so much for everything!" said Max. "And it's going to be so much fun dueling Yugi, don't you think?"

"Good luck on that," said Solomon. "My grandson was the first person to ever beat Seto Kaiba in a duel, and Kaiba had the legendary Blue Eyes White Dragon in his deck; three of them to be exact! He's also the winner of the Duelist Kingdom Tournament, aside from his victory here at Battle City."

"Wow, he must be pretty awesome!" May said. But she then added softly to herself. "But he might also be dangerous..."

"What was that?" May shook her head when she heard Solomon ask that question and laughed sheepishly.

"Nothing, nothing at all," The Pokémon Coordinator replied.

**0-0-0-0-0**

After leaving their stuff upstairs on the second floor—the Poké balls were still with them at all times—May and Max left the Kame Game Shop with their new purchases. The Duel Disks recently had attachments to make duelists have different from others, so May and Max could tell which Duel Disks was theirs should the need arise (and also it made them look cool).

May's disk, that she slipped onto her right arm, was bright bed with the center—containing the life point meter and deck holder—being black, similar to her red blouse. Max's disk was green and brown, resembling his outfit of old and had it slipped across his left arm. As the two inspected their new Duel Disks and decks, it was when Max said something.

"You know," he said. "We know about Hamunpatra, but we don't know a lot about the Shadow Realm. You think Yugi would know about it?"

"I don't think that is something we should ask him about," May answered. "Still...it'd be nice to know."

"_As you wish, Goddess…"_

May noticed one of the cards of her deck glowing and drew it, revealing Atem's image in front of her. In a gust of wind, the spectral form of the Ancient Pharaoh emerged (without his wings, May noted) and bowed to them.

"Atem!" May hissed, looking around. "What are you doing out here?"

"You wanted to know more about the Shadow Realm, so I am here to explain it," Atem answered. "The Shadow Realm is where all monsters and darkness originated from-where all sinners and the evil they carry in their hearts are tested, for it reveals the truth about a person. It is where people who had magic potential who could summon creatures from within the darkness to aid them, mostly for evil. When the monsters descended onto Egypt 5,000 years ago, there was nothing but destruction everywhere...and you know what happened to me." May and Max silently nodded their heads.

"However, with the Millennium Puzzle and the other six Millennium Items created from the 'sacrifice'-" Max looked in confusion before May whispered something in his ear. Max looked in horror and then nodded his head once more. "Were used to purify the darkness and seal the monsters away just before I was sent to Hamunaptra. Then, the Millennium Items were left in the sands of the Sahara Desert, waiting for whomever would wield them...until now that is."

"So...are you saying that Yugi Muto has the power to send people into the Shadow Realm?" asked Max. Atem nodded his head in reply. "That's...scary." The younger boy replied, shuddering a bit.

"Do not worry," said the Pharaoh, dropping to one knee. "No matter what happens, I will protect my Goddess of Joy and anyone she considers valuable." May blushed a bit at the comment once more before the spirit continued. "If you should ever need me or anyone else, I'll be here...but be careful." He disappeared into thin air, leaving the siblings alone. The two stayed silent as Max looked at a brochure in his hand in regards to tourist attractions to Domino City. It was about ten minutes after their talk, with the only things they said was regards to directions and pointing out landmarks, before Max looked up from his map and smiled.

"Hey, that's the museum!" he said, pointing to the building across the street. "I read that they have this awesome exhibit about the Ancient Pharaoh; maybe it contains more about Atem's past!"

"Maybe," May replied as the two crossed the street. There weren't a lot of people in front of the museum that day, so that gave the front area to themselves. "Say, how about a duel? We could use it as our own personal training."

"Good idea, May!" said Max running a few feet away from her. "I want to try out my new deck and see if I can beat you!"

"Bring it on!" May replied as she raised her arm into the air. In doing so, the curved disk soon moved so that it was in front of her. With a slight beep, the Duel Disk turned on. Max did the same motion as his sister, both of them drawing five cards soon after.

"Ready, May?"

"Ready!"

"Then let's-" But before either of them could finish the sentence, a loud scream caught their attention. Looking up, hundreds and hundred of monsters were swarming around them! In the sky, on the ground, climbing up trees, walking on the streets, slamming their feet onto the roofs of cars...it was if a parade was in town.

"Whose Duel Disk malfunctioned?!" May exclaimed. "We have to make sure no one gets hurt from these things!" She returned the cards to the top of her deck and deactivated her Duel Disk, rushing toward one of the monsters. It looked like a Stegosaurus with orange and red splotches, blue spikes trailing down its spine, white claws and a whip-like tail.

"Blaziken, I choose you!" May cried, throwing her Poké Ball. It opened and the tall Blaze Pokémon appeared. His feet soon grew flames as he prepared to battle the monster.

"That's a hologram, May!" Max explained when he caught up to his sister. "There's no way it could do any—" He was interrupted when the monster swung its mighty tail and hit Blaziken in the chest, causing it to fall down.

"A hologram...couldn't do that!" May gasped out as Blaziken slowly got back up. "Then that means..."

The two looked in horror as the stegosaurus shook his head and roared.

"The monsters **are** real!" The siblings cried. The dinosaur stared at the two siblings and Pokémon, letting out a loud roar. It then charged toward them, its feet stomping against the ground. Max brought out a Poké Ball, and pressed the button, causing it to become larger.

"Shuppet, use Psychic!" Max cried as the Puppet Pokémon flew out of its confinement. Shuppet flew toward the monster, its eyes glowing a bright blue. May and Max covered their own eyes, unable to watch themselves possibly being flattened into nothing but pancakes...

When the monster was soon floating in mid-air. May and Max looked to see Shuppet floating the dinosaur in mid-air unable to attack, letting out a sigh of relief, May brought out a Poké Ball, pointing it at Blaziken.

"Blaziken, take a good long rest," The Blaze Pokémon nodded his head as he transformed into a beam of red light. May placed the Poké Ball back into her waist pack before grabbing her brother's hand.

"Come on, we have to make sure we're not in that monster's vision." she said, pulling her brother to the side. Shuppet—seeing them leave—stopped using hts Psychic move, causing the monster to fall on its stomach, shaking the ground as it did. It didn't move as May and Max slowly backed away, watching the dinosaur stay still.

"This...doesn't look good, Max." said May, panting for breath. "It might have...something to do with Samiya and Jirachi..."

**0-0-0-0-0**

Yami, Téa, Tristan and Joey stepped outside to see a most peculiar site. While May and Max just learned that the monster in front of them was, in fact, real, the four teenagers noticed that they were fighting a Sword Arm of Dragon.

"Those guys are going to get killed!" Tristan exclaimed, seeing the monster charging toward the two. They then saw Max bring out a small red sphere—along with saying something of the lines of "Use Psychic"-and a small purple ghost with a horn on its head appeared.

"What the heck is that thing?" Joey asked, seeing the Ghost Pokémon use its Psychic attack.

"And what the heck are those guys doing?!" Just as the Sword of Dragon was about to strike, a blue outline surrounded the entire body, and it was floating a few inches above the ground, flailing pathetically as it struggled to free itself..

"Whatever it is, it stopped the monster from attacking," Téa answered as the four walked up to the brother and sister. They were still oblivious to what was behind them, but Yami was able to hear something along the lines of "Samiya" and "Jirachi".

"What the heck are you two doing?" Yami replied once the four reached the siblings. May and Max turned to see four teenagers staring at them weirdly. Both siblings immediately stared at them for a minute, before consulting the magazine once more; then it hit them.

"Oh my god!" May replied, pointing to the Pharaoh's reincarnation. "You're Yugi Muto! The champion of the Battle City and Duelist Kingdom Tournament!"

"And you're Joey Wheeler!" Max exclaimed, pointing to the tall blonde teenager. "You were runner up in Duelist Kingdom and 4th place in Battle City!"

"Shuppet?" The Puppet Pokémon asked in confusion seeing the site.

"A ghost!" Téa squealed, seeing the little ghost move closer to them. "Get it away!"

"Hold on Téa," said Yami. "I don't think it means any harm. Do you?"

Shuppet floated near them, showing them the happy grin on its face.

"Shuppet..." Shuppet replied. Max immediately brought out the Pokeball and pointed it into the air.

"Shuppet, time for some rest," he stated simply as a beam of light took Shuppet back into the small sphere. He then placed back into his pocket.

"Look, we don't mean any harm," said May getting between the group, hands in the air. "We were just about to duel when we found these monsters attacking us. And it wasn't some hologram; the monster was reall!"

"That's crazy!" Tristan replied. "And who are you? And what's with the ball, and that ghost?!"

"I'm May, and this is Max." said May, introducing herself and her brother. "And that 'ghost' was the Puppet Pokémon, Shuppet."

"And what about you?" Max replied, pointing to Tristan and Téa. "Are you friends of Yugi and Joey?

"Of course. I'm Téa, and the guy next to me is Tristan," Téa answered. "But...are you sure that the monsters are real? It could just be a bad hologram glitch."

"Trust me, Miss Téa," May said in reply. "I sent out Blaziken to fight that thing, assuming that it was just a hologram, but it got hit. That's when we found out that the monster was real..."

"Maybe we can talk to Kaiba about this," Joey suggested. "That old rich hog should figure out what's going on with this mess."

"What do you say?" Yami asked the siblings. "Want to join us?"

May and Max stood deep in thought at the question. They then nodded their heads in reply.

"Then what are we doing standing here?" asked Joey. "Let's get going!"

"Well, it's not like we have anything better to do," Max muttered as he and his sister followed the other teenagers.

**0-0-0-0-0**

"This is the first sign. The age of destruction is nearing!"

"Your souls will be taken to the Great Leviathan, and then the world shall end."

Those were the words that May and Max heard when they met up with the two dazed figures on the sidewalk on their quest to head to the Kaiba Corp. building. The two figures in question—one with a blue bowl cut, yellow glasses and wearing brown shorts and a green shirt with a black beetle design, the other brown spiky haired, also wearing a pair of brown pants and a yellow shirt and green jacket—looked as if they were in shock.

"They're scaring me, May," said Max. "Just who are these two?"

"Weevil Underwood and Rex Raptor," Joey answered to the question. "Two of the lowest scumbags you'll ever find in the history of Duel Monsters."

"But what _happened_ to them?" May poked Weevil before stepping back as she heard Weevil cackle and grab her arm.

"You're next," Weevil wheezed, causing May to shake the Insect Duelist off of her and step back.

"Let's go find Kaiba and ask him what's going on," she said to Max, grasping his arm as they rushed toward Kaiba Corp.

The two ignored the calls for Yami and the others to stop, as they turned a corner to what would've been the Kaiba Corp. main office. Unfortunately for both Petalburgh siblings, there was a sea of media crew—photographers, people with cameras and anchormen—surrounding the building, while a guard outside was trying to tell them to calm down.

"Kaiba Corp. is not to blame." said Roland, the guard. As he pushed a microphone that was shoved into his face, he added, "Mister Kaiba is in America at the moment. So if you could please leave, we will be holding a press conference soon that shall explain everything."

"Looks like we won't talk to him then," said Max, noticing the flashes from cameras blinding Roland.

"Total downer," May sighed as Yami, Tristan, Joey and Téa came up to them. "Then again, I guess it was to be expected."

"So much for getting the answers the easy way," Tristan muttered under his breath, seeing the

crowd.

"We need to head back to the Game Shop," said Téa. "Maybe this will all blow over in a while."

"Great idea!" Max exclaimed. "We still haven't got those booster packs, _and_ we need to make sure our stuff is already upstairs."

"What stuff?" Yami asked the young boy.

Max immediately covered his mouth in shock, completely forgetting that the King of Games had not known about that bit of information. May sighed and hit her forehead with her hand.

"It's a bit of a long story," she replied. "But, since we're all heading back to the shop, I guess we could explain it on the way there."

**0-0-0-0-0**

"So, you're staying in Domino City for a week?" asked Téa, once the six were back in the Game Shop. "And it's before you're off to this place called Johto where you'll be competing in something called...'Pokémon Contests?'"

"That's the idea," said May, looking through her cards. "They're so much fun!"

The six were all in the living room while Solomon was busy dusting the Egyptian God Cards at the Game Shop side of the building. The berry blender was already plugged in while Max was helping feed the Pokémon that were scattered across the room. Squirtle and Eevee were sharing a bowl of food together while the same thing was happening with Vigoroth and Blaziken. Munchlax had a bowl full of Purple Pokéblocks, munching them down as if there were no tomorrow. Shuppet was currently asleep in mid-air, a small bubble appearing when he snoozed. Beautifly was resting on the edge of the couch, also asleep.

"There we go." said Max, handing Munchlax a pink Pokéblock. "This should fill you up until tomorrow."

Munchlax heartily agreed, continuing his eating. A sigh escaped the young boy's lips as he sat near his sister on the couch. He immediately ripped open a booster pack from his pocket and poured the cards onto the wooden surface.

"So," said Joey, staring at the cards that were placed on the table. "What deck do ya have?"

"A Spell Counter Deck." Max replied, staring at his new cards. They included a Maiden of Macabre, a Magical Exemplar, Dark Red Enchanter, Magical Blast and something known as Miracle Flipper. "My sister has some interesting cards too but…"

"No," May answered immediately, slipping Atem's card into her Duel Disk. "I'm not ready to reveal my deck yet.

She looked at her deck, trying to understand most of the cards laid out on the table. She had a deck now, yes, but she wasn't sure that she would be able to understand if she could duel. Not to mention, she didn't have a 'theme' compared to her brother's magicians. Sure, the Gravekeeper's were nice, but they didn't 'click' when compared to the other Dark-Attribute monsters she selected or to the ones of Atem and Kura. It was like mixing oil and water together, in a sense.

"What's wrong, May?" asked Max, turning to his sister. "Something the matter?"

"It's about us dueling, Max," she answered, picking up a rulebook on Dueling, eyes skimming the various rules in regards to summoning (like Normal Summon versus Special Summon). "I don't know if I can really trust myself on this. I mean, we just got our decks today and..." she leaned in and whispered, "You know…" Max nodded his head.

"Then why don't you trust the Heart of the Cards?"

"'The Heart of the Cards?' That's a bit weird, don't you think?"

"No, it isn't! When you look like you're in a tight situation, call for the Heart of the Cards, and it'll give you the card you'll need to win the duel! That's how Yugi defeated Kaiba, and how he was champion at the Duelist Kingdom **and** Battle City Tournaments! He even stated it in an interview. See?" He pulled out the magazine and flipped it to a specific page, showing Yugi being interviewed. "That's the key to his victories."

"Really? Well then, maybe when I'm in a situation like that, I'll ask for the Heart of the Cards for guidance."

"Guys, keep it down!" Tristan hissed, pointing to the blaring television. "We need to see this."

May and Max turned to where everyone else was watching. It was showing monsters flying around many famous landmarks like the Taj Mahal, the pyramids of Giza and the Eiffel Tower. The news announcer was facing the camera as he began the headlines.

"As you can see, monsters have been seen across the globe for the past few hours." he said, addressing the audience. "These creatures are believed to be life-like holograms, associated with a popular game known as 'Duel Monsters'."

"Just great," Joey muttered under his breath. "This thing is happening all over the world."

"And still no mention from Kaiba." May noted, folding her arms against her chest. "Still, I just hope mom and dad are all right."

"Me too," said Max. "After all, they were the ones who told us to come here."

"We now take you live to a press conference with Gaming Company President, Seto Kaiba." The announcer continued.

The screen then showed the brown haired, blue eyed CEO facing the camera, draped in a purple duster. There was a look of anger on his face—or maybe it was seriousness, May and Max couldn't tell—as he began to speak.

"We've done extensive testing of our holographic simulation system." He stated. "Now, I can confirm without question that these sightings are unrelated to Kaiba Corp. Therefore, something else is causing those monsters to be appearing; our systems are working perfectly."

"Well, that's a relief," said Max, letting out a sigh. "I wouldn't want real monsters be wreaking havoc around _my_ neighborhood."

"I say he's either bluffing or covering it up," Tristan mused, leaning forward. "After all, who else has the type of technology to create life-like monsters?"

"But, I think it's something else," Téa theorized. "Those monsters might not be holographic projections at all. If May and Max stated that their Pokémon were hit in the impact, then who's to say that the other monsters roaming around the world are like that?"

"You may be right, Téa," Yami replied. "When I used the Egyptian God Cards at that tablet, I might have triggered the emergence of these monsters which mean they are truly real after all."

"But why?" asked May. "And what's so important about those Egyptian God Cards that you used it on that so-called 'tablet'?"

"It's a bit of a long story." May and Max glanced at each other briefly. "But the gist of it is that I recently fought against a man named Marik Ishtar, who wanted those cards and my Millennium Puzzle to drain my powers and send me into the Shadow Realm; they are also the answer to unlocking the mysteries to my past, and that's why they are important."

"Oh," May answered softly. "I...didn't know."

Of course she _**did**_ know the truth, but she knew that it was not a good idea to express these ideas to him. What was she supposed to say? "The truth is, I have half of your true self with me that was sealed in a book that somehow happened to be in my house, and you apparently hold the soul of a dark dragon of destruction within you that saved Ancient Egypt from absolute destruction"? Yeah, that would've been helpful...

"Wait," said Joey, piecing everything together. "Are you saying that we're being attacked by actual monsters?"

"That's what he said." Max answered. "It's hard to believe though. I mean, what if-"

Suddenly a loud crash was heard; the six turned their heads while the Pokémon stopped eating.

"Grandpa!" Yugi gasped, hearing his grandfather crying out in agony.

"We better check it out," said Joey.

"Everyone, return!" May and Max replied, bringing out their Poké balls. The seven Pokémon became nothing more than red lights as they followed Yami and the others to the Game shop.

It was a complete mess; there were containers and card packs scattered all over the place, glass shards that littered the ground, posters that were slashed into shreds, and Solomon was on the ground, moaning in pain. It was clear that whoever caused this mess was looking for something of great importance.

"Grandpa!" Yugi replied, switching places with the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle. He knelt to his grandfather's side, trying to help him sit up. "Grandpa, are you alright?!"

"What the heck happened here, Mr. Muto?" Joey asked, looking around. He could tell that whoever caused the mess wanted to get out in a hurry.

"Your cards," Solomon muttered weakly, looking up at his grandson. "They're gone, Yugi."

"Which cards?" Max asked, looking around. "I don't see anything missing from the shop."

"The precious cards..." Solomon insisted.

"The God Cards?!" Yugi asked in shock. "They're gone?!"

"Who did this?" Joey growled. He then started to run outside. "I'll find them!"

"No, wait!" Tristan cried.

Joey exited the Game Shop, ready to fight off the thieves. Unfortunately, even he didn't expect the giant form of Obelisk the Tormentor emerging in Domino City.

"What the?!" May cried as she and Max made it outside. "What the heck is that thing?! It's huge!"

"It's Obelisk the Tormentor!" Yugi gasped once he, Tristan and Téa made it outside. Just then, the imposing figures of both Slifer and Ra appeared next to Obelisk, making the sight even more frightening.

"And those must be Slifer the Sky Dragon and the Winged Dragon of Ra!" Max replied, pointing to the dragons.

"This is nuts!" Joey exclaimed. "What kind of _idiot_ steals the Egyptian God Cards and then just summons them all for everyone to see?!"

Before anyone could answer the question, a light blinded the six. Covering their eyes, they also heard the roaring of motorcycle engine.

"You blokes want those cards back?" One of the voices asked, hinting some sort of Australian accent.

May and Max lowered their arms to see three helmeted motorcyclists staring right at them. Both of them gripped onto their Poké Balls while everyone else was talking.

"What do we do now?" Max hissed to his sister. "If we attack with any Pokémon, they'll get away! And if they get away, who knows what they'll do?"

"I know..." May replied. "But there has to be something we can do. We can't let them get away with this crime."

She looked around, and then stared at the forms of the Egyptian Gods. She had goose bumps when she saw the imposing figures in the magazine, but staring at them up close and personal was more terrifying than she thought.

"They're my cards!" Yugi cried to the bikers. "Give them back right now!"

That reply was only met with laughter. The three bikers readied their Duel Disks, the tray of the Disk being shaped like a scythe, and the cardholder having a circle with ancient symbols surrounding it.

"Then you're going to have to duel us!" The first biker exclaimed.

"But it's only fair to warn you," The second one replied—most likely the tallest and the leader. "We've been known to play dirty!"

"So, what's it gonna be?" The last one—probably the shortest—asked.

"How about _you_ stand still?" May replied as she nodded to Max. Max rummaged for his two Poké balls in his pocket. "We'll show you that we're not ones to mess with! You have no right to be stealing something that doesn't belong to you!"

May threw his Poké balls out, revealing Vigoroth and Banette. The savage Wild Monkey Pokémon and happy Puppet Pokémon cried their names out.

"What the heck are those going to do to us?" The short biker laughed. May and Max smirked.

"You'll see," Max answered. "Shuppet use Psychic!"

"Shuppet…" Shuppet cried, his eyes glowing blue and its body surrounded by a blue outline. The three bikers were suddenly lifted into the air just like the Sword Arm of Dragon was in the afternoon, pathetically trying to escape by flailing about with no success.

"Vigoroth!" said Max, pointing to the tallest biker. "Go and use Fury Swipes on him!"

"Vigoroth!" Vigoroth cried, its long black claws glowing white as it tackled the lead biker onto his back, pinning him to the ground. And before anyone could say anything, May rushed toward the lead motorcyclist and began to search for the Egyptian God Cards...or would've if the biker didn't grab onto her hand.

"Those cards belong to Yugi!" May exclaimed, grasping onto the biker's helmet with all her might. "They aren't yours!"

And with as much strength that she could muster, she successfully pulled off the biker's helmet. Time stopped for her all of a sudden as she stared face to face with the taller man with his spiked blond hair and blue eyes. For some odd reason that she could never be able to explain, she _knew_ this person, knew them from somewhere long, long ago.

The biker narrowed his eyes and pushed May off of him, hastily grabbing his helmet and placing it on his head and turned to walk away from the Pokémon Coordinator. May snarled.

"Wait!" she said.. "You won't get away with this, whoever you are!" The roar of a motorcycle got everyone's attention, speeding by and grabbing onto May before she could even speak.

"MAX!" May cried as the motorcyclist drove off. "Someone help!"

"May!" Max replied as he could only see his sister become farther and farther away. Anger was shown on his face as he said, "Shuppet, follow that motorcyclist! Vigoroth, return!"

"Shuppet!" Shuppet said with determination, the blue light fading away and causing the ones affected by Psychic to collapse onto their motorcycles. Vigoroth nodded its head as it returned to its Poké Ball.

"Raphael," The first cyclist—the one wearing a black padded coat—replied to his blonde haired partner with a groan. "Let him deal with the girl, we've got a score to settle with the Pharaoh."

Yugi gasped at the statement. _How do they know about the Pharaoh?_ He thought.

"Listen, Yugi," Raphael announced, pointing to the King of Games. "If you want your God Cards and your little friend again, then follow us!" The roar of the engines was louder as he turned the motorcycle around.

"Let's roll." He stated simply to his partners, both who were laughing as they drove off. Yugi snarled while he saw them leave.

"I guess we have no choice," Yugi stated with determination. The Millennium Puzzle began to glow as Yami soon came into view. Joey and the others nodded their heads as they headed off. Max watched his Shuppet float away, in hopes of finding his sister.

_May..._ The young boy thought to himself. _Please be safe..._

**0-0-0-0-0**

"Let me out of here!" May cried, trying to struggle out of the motorcyclist's grip. "When I get out of here, you'll wish that you were dead!"

"On the contrary," the motorcyclist replied, stopping his ride. "You wish that you didn't face off against me!"

The two were in a dark alleyway, which was surprisingly clean despite the rampage of large Duel Monsters earlier in the day, as May was pushed off of the ride. She rolled onto the ground with a couple of grunts, before she lifted her head. Growling, the Pokémon Coordinator stood up, activating her Duel Disk.

"I'll show you!" said May. "And tell me who you really are, before I call Blaziken to punch that helmet off your face!"

"You want to know who I am? Fine!"

The person removed the helmet, revealing the face of a man in around his late 20's or early 30's. What was interesting was the long blonde hair pulled into a ponytail with a bandanna of the American Flag tied on top of it. Brown sunglasses covered his eyes, and he was also wearing jeans, a white shirt and a leather jacket. He also was wearing metal wristbands and a silver chain that had a green stone dangling around his neck. What scared the young Pokémon trainer the most was the duel disk on his left arm; it looked similar to the ones on the bikers at the Game Shop.

"The name's Bandit Keith," The motorcyclist grinned. "And you, miss, are toast!"

May snarled at the comment.

"I'd like to see you try and defeat me!" she replied, trying not to show fear. Unfortunately, it didn't help when she saw Keith's Duel Disk activate, the tray appearing to make it look like a scythe. May could only stare as he drew five cards from the top of his deck, before smiling at his hand.

The field slot opened, and he immediately placed a card there.

"Then take a taste of the Seal of Orichalcos!" Before May could say anything, a green glow filled the area as a giant green circle lined with ancient symbols surrounded the two. Lines appeared, forming a six pointed star inside the ring, making it sinister. What was worse was that Keith had a miniature version of the Seal on his forehead, his eyes gaining a crimson glow.

"W...what's going on?" she asked. "What is that thing?"

Bandit Keith just smirked.

"You'll wish you've never fought me, little girl," he answered back.. "For the loser of this duel, loses their soul!"

**0-0-0-0-0**

**Max: May, are you alright?**

**May: I don't think so, I have to duel or else my life is at stake.**

**Keith: You're not going to win, at least, not against a former Intercontinental Duel Monsters Champion.**

**Atem: Believe in your deck, Goddess...and it will lead you to your victory!**

**May: What?! That Orichalcos thing is giving my opponent a major power boost! That's not fair!**

**Max: Next time, "Between my Brother and Me - De Novo| Chapter 3: Unleash Your Power!**

**May: No matter what, I won't let those creeps take me like they did Manaphy and Jirachi!**

**Max: Trust in the 'Heart of the Cards', May. It's your only hope!**


	4. III: Unleash Your Power!

**Between My Brother and Me - De Novo  
**

**3: Unleash Your Power!**

"_To achieve, you need thought. You need to know what you're doing and that's real power."_

_-Ayn Rand_

May drew five cards from her deck as both her and Bandit Keith's life point counters raised to 4,000. She was nervous; she never had a chance to try out her deck, and by the way Keith sounded, she had no choice but to duel, or else that was it.

"I'll go first!" Keith began, drawing a card from his deck. He grinned as he placed a card onto the disk. "And now I play my Mechanicalchaser in Attack Mode."

A green spherical robot with spindly arms appeared. Just then, a miniaturized version of the Seal of Orichalcos was placed on its body. Its attack power was at 1850...but then suddenly it shot up to 2350!

"W...what?" May exclaimed. "How the heck did your monster get a power boost? T...there's no card on the field that could raise its Attack Score! And by the looks of it, your monster isn't an Effect type."

Keith laughed at the absurdity of the question. "It's quite simple, little girl," He answered back. "All monsters on my side of the field gain 500 Attack points from the Seal of Orichalcos. And that's not all it can do. But for now, I'll place two cards face down, and end my turn."

May stared as two face-down cards appeared behind Mechanicalchaser. Now she was getting a bit nervous. The only thing she knew about Duel Monsters was from that magazine, and she had no one else to advise her. She truly felt alone.

_No...I shouldn't think about that..._She said to herself. _I promised Atem to stop this great evil from destroying the world, and I have to save Manaphy and Jirachi! I have to stay strong; I can do this!_

"Shuppet?" said an unexpected voice.

May and Keith looked to see the happy Puppet Pokémon floating down. Its grin grew when it saw May. "Shuppet!"

"Shuppet, what are you doing here?" she asked. "Where's Max?"

"Shup—PET!" Shuppet screamed when it neared the two duelists. A green force field appeared, knocking it onto the ground several feet away from the Pokémon Coordinator.

"Shuppet!" May cried, racing to get out of the Seal...

Only to find herself thrown back, and land on her back with a scream. She stood up and tried to escape, but the barrier kept blocking her.

"Hey, what's going on?!" asked May, pounding on the Seal. No matter how hard she hit it, it wouldn't budge. "Why can't I leave?!"

"I guess you wimps learned it the hard way," Keith replied with a grin. "Once the Orichalcos is in play, there's no way in, and there's no way out. The only way to escape is to win, else your soul gets taken away. Now make your move!"

May hesitated and lowered her hands. She let herself be taken by this man and now there was no escape. She closed her eyes and turned around, opening her eyes to glare at her opponent.

"Fine!" she said. "Then I guess it's my turn!"

May drew a card from the top of her deck and stared at her 6-card hand; currently she had two Trap Cards, three Spell Cards and one monster. Unfortunately, her monster had 8 stars, and, if she remembered, she would need two monsters on the field to bring it out. Great.

That's when she eyed one of the Spell cards, and an idea formed. It was risky, especially since it was her first turn in a duel _ever_, but she had to try.

"I play my Spell Card Reasoning!" May cried, throwing the card into the Disk. The card depicted a man in a turban pointing to a specific card. "Now you have to call a number, and I'll discard cards from my deck until I come across a monster. If the monster matches the number you called, I put it in the graveyard, and if not then I get to Special Summon it on the field. So... what's it going to be?"

Keith rubbed his chin in thought, and then smirked. "I call five," he answered. "Someone of your caliber should have something wimpy like Fairy monsters in your deck."

May snarled as she drew one card from the top of her deck. She gasped when she found it was a monster...with only _**four**_ stars! What luck!

"Guess again!" she cried, revealing the monster to her opponent. "I now Special Summon Double Coston in Attack mode!"

The monster appeared, looking like two ghosts with eyes and blue tongues connected by an energy cord. (1700/1650)

"And guess what?" May continued. "I still get to Normal Summon, and when Double Coston is used in tribute for a Dark monster, it can count as **2** tributes! So now I'll sacrifice this monster to summon my all powerful Dark Horus in attack mode!"

Double Coston let out a laugh before vanishing, and in its place was a huge mechanical dragon! It looked similar to the Winged Dragon of Ra in appearance, except it had some sort of helmet with a red jewel on top of its head, and it was completely black. It let out a loud screech, unfurling its huge wings while its yellow eyes glared at its opponent. (3000/1800)

_No way! _Keith thought to himself, seeing the monster. _How could this girl have something this powerful?!_

_I better attack now, before he summons a stronger monster. _May thought to herself. "All right, Dark Horus!" She commanded her monster. "Attack that machine now with...with your Dark Flare Blitz!"

Dark Horus let out gout of black flames, incinerating the monster. Unfortunately, Keith didn't seem to mind at all.

"You activated my trap!" he shouted, one of the cards lifting. It looked like some sort of black chamber with purple smoking surrounding it, and a couple of glass windows. "It's called Time Machine, so even when you destroyed my monster, I can summon it back onto the field!"

The door to the machine opened and Mechanicalchaser appeared. The Seal was back on its 'forehead' as its attack was now at 2350.

May snarled, but remained calm. "Then I guess I'll end it with one card face-down." A card appeared behind Dark Horus as her heart was pounding against her chest.

**(Bandit Keith: 3350) - (May: 4000)**

Bandit Keith drew a card, then immediately placed it onto the field. "I play Ground Attacker Bugroth in Attack mode!" he announced.

A new monster appeared which was purple and had a glass dome encasing a human brain. It stood on green mechanical claws, and two cannons were perched on its back. (1500/1000) -) (2000/1000)

"And next, I activate my second face-down card, Clockwork Night!"

The Spell card appeared, depicting a yellow crescent moon hanging down amongst tumbling gears and the roofs of a factory.

"This Spell Card causes your Dark Horus to become a Machine-type Monster, and it loses 500 Attack points," Keith explained. "But on the other hand, my monsters gain 500 attack points!"

Dark Horus roared in pain, its attack points dropping to 2500 (although any significant change to the monster was hard to tell). Mechanicalchaser's attack shot to 2,850, while Ground Attacker Bugroth's attack went up to 2500.

"Mechanicalchaser, attack that giant bird with Swift Strike!" Mechanicalchaser rushed toward the monster, brandishing tools in each of its six arms. With a few quick strokes, Dark Horus was nothing but scrap metal while May used her arms to protect herself.

"Not so fast!" May cried, activating her face-down card. "I play my Trap Card **Mirror Trap**!"

The face-down card flipped over, showing the image of a Trap Card being reflected by a myriad of mirrors.

"This card lets me copy the effect of one Trap Card that has been activated and then sent into the Graveyard." May explained. "And since your Time Machine is a fellow Trap Card, I think I'll use that to bring Dark Horus back onto the field!"

May's trap card began to glow, soon showing the image of the Time Machine card. Then, a real Time Machine appeared, purple smoke escaping the capsule as Dark Horus stepped out. (3000/1800)

"Damn it..." Keith muttered to himself. "Guess I'll have to play this: Machina Frontline!"

The former Duel Monsters Champion placed a Spell Card onto his disk, the image revealing a monster known as Machiners Soldier against a fiery explosion.

"That's it," Keith spat out. "Do you worst."

**(Bandit Keith: 3350) - (May: 3650)**

"Gladly!" May cried, drawing another card. She stared at her hand, admiring the artwork in them; even if she didn't know what Duel Monsters look like, she could feel some sort of power radiating through them and going into her. Goosebumps were formed on her wrists when showed one to Bandit Keith.

"I play Breaker the Magical Warrior in Attack Mode!" she said, summoning the card.

A red warrior wearing a pointed helmet with golden lining all over his armor appeared. He also was wearing a red cape and in his hands was a sword and diamond shaped shield. The gem on the shield began to glow. (1600/1000) - (1900/1000)

"Big deal," Keith huffed. "He's still too weak to destroy my monsters." May just shook her head.

"He looks weak now, but he has an interesting effect," she replied, recalling what her brother was saying earlier about Spell Counters. "When he's on the field, Breaker gains something called a 'Spell Counter' that raises his Attack by 300. But... " She smiled. "If I sacrifice that counter, then Breaker gets to destroy a Spell or Trap Card on the field! So now your Clockwork Night is nothing more than scrap metal!"

Breaker pointed his sword at the Clockwork Night Spell Card, exploding it into shards, as his Attack Points went back to 1600. Both Mechanicalchaser and Ground Attacker Bugroth's attack points decreased by 500.

_What do I do next? _May thought to herself. _His monsters are still stronger than mine. Wait...I got it!_

"Next, I'll play my _own_ Spell Card known as **Revenge of the Dark King**!" At that cry, May swore she felt a dark wind surrounding the field. The image of the card depicted Atem, sitting on a throne...except behind him was an evil looking dragon, and Atem had a pair of black wings perched from his back. The same ones that he had when we met, May noted.

"What the?!" Keith yelled, seeing the card. "Where did you get a card like that?!"

"That's not the point," May answered "But if you must know what my card does, it gives all Dark monsters on my side of the field gain an extra 300 Attack Points for every other dark monster that's there. And I see two, so both gain 600 Attack Points."

Dark Horus screeched as its attack points reached 3600. Breaker's attack increased to 2200.

"Now let's try my attack again!" said May. "Dark Horus, attack Mechanicalchaser once more with Dark Flare Blitz!"

Dark Horus opened its mouth as a burst of black flames incinerated the Machine monster once more. This time, it destroyed Mechanicalchaser for good. Keith's Machina Frontline began to glow.

"You activated my Spell Card's special ability!" Keith smirked. "When you destroyed my Machine monster, I can summon one whose attribute is the same as the one destroyed, and its attack points were lower. So, I'll summon my Dark Machine monster called Bowganian!"

Bowganian appeared on the field: a green eye with spikes surrounding the eyelid and a pair of arms growing from its side. It wielded a crossbow with one arm. (1300/100) -) (1800/1000)

"Be careful," Bandit Keith continued. "During my turn, he can inflict 600 points of damage to your life points."

"Then I'll destroy him next!" May cried. "Breaker, destroy that eye now!"

Breaker rushed toward the Machine, slashing it in half with one slash of his sword. It exploded into shards.

"And now that that's over, I'll place one card face-down.." May slipped a card into the Spell/Trap Card Zone of the Duel Disk.

**(Bandit Keith: 1750) - (May: 3650)**

Bandit Keith growled; he thought he had the edge, but apparently he was mistaken. May barely lost any of her life points, and she was wiping the floor with him! Now it became personal. He drew a card, smirking at what he found.

"I play Graceful Charity!" he announced, playing the card. A beautiful angel wearing a green robe appeared, her feathers falling onto Keith's deck. He immediately drew three cards, placing two of his cards into the graveyard.

"Next, I'll play Monster Reborn to summon your Double Coston from the Graveyard." May snarled as the Spell Card appeared, with Double Coston taking its place. The Orichalcos emerged on both of the ghosts' foreheads, and their eyes were tinted with a dark red glow. (1700/1650) -) (2200/1650)

"And now I'll use its special ability to summon this monster, my Barrel Dragon!" Bandit Keith sneered. May stared as Double Coston was replaced with a black mechanized dragon with three laser discharging cannons perched on top of it. The Orichalcos appeared on its forehead as it growled at the young girl. (2600/2200) -) (3100/2200)

"Here's the fun part," Keith continued. "If two of Barrel Dragon's three cannons turn red, then I can destroy one monster on the field. Get ready..."

The cannon on the left began to glow red. May started to sweat a bit...then she sighed in relief when the one on the right began to glow blue. The one in the middle began to glow, but then it landed on blue.

Bandit Keith growled at the results.

"Fine!" he announced. "Barrel Dragon, destroy her Breaker the Magical Warrior with Neutron Blast!"

Three rounds of lasers shot from the cannons, hitting Breaker dead on. The attack caused Dark Horus's attack points to lower to 3300.

"I'll end with two more face-down cards, and that's all." The face-down cards appeared behind Keith's last machine monster.

**(Bandit Keith: 1750) - (May: 2750)**

May drew from her deck once more.

"I'll start by playing Pot of Greed," she announced as the green, grinning pot appeared on her side of the field. "And now I get to draw two more cards."

Two more cards were pulled from the top of her deck. Then she gasped in surprise: it was a ritual card with a stone tablet. She knew deep down in heart what she had to do.

"I hope you weren't going to celebrate," said May. "Because you're about to be defeated by me! I play the Ritual Spell Card known as **Pharaoh's Prophecy**!"

The card appeared, revealing an image of the stone tablet depicting Priest Seto's and Pharaoh Atem's fated duel. However, there was a silhouette that covered the results. All that was shown was that the shadow had spiky hair.

"Usually, I have to sacrifice one of three specific monsters to bring him out," May explained. "But I won't have to because I sacrifice Ritual Raven from my hand!"

"What's so special about that bird?" Keith explained.

"He isn't pretty to look at, yes, but his effect means that if I use it to Ritual Summon a Dark monster, I can sacrifice it alone and it'll be used for the whole Tribute!" She explained playing the card on her Duel Disk.

A small black raven appeared on the field. But it looked different from most ravens: it had a huge head, small hands, grey wings, and its eyes were yellow happy faces. (300/300) It let out a caw as it burst into black flames.

"May I present to you, **Atem, The Ancient Pharaoh**!" May cried once the flames dispersed.

When the black flames died down, a royal figure appeared, similar to the spirit that had called May a 'Goddess' many times. What completed the look were the earrings shaped like ankhs, and a khopesh sword in his right hand. Darkness swirled around him, shown in his crimson eyes as he glared at his opponent. (2400/1700) -) (3000/1700)

Atem stared at Dark Horus, the dragon letting out a small roar as its Attack went back to 3600. But even with the boost, May noticed that Atem would be incinerated due to Barrel Dragon should its effect be successful against Dark Horus. If that happened, then Keith would probably summon a monster and use it and his Ground Attacker Bugroth to win the duel. Then she would lose her soul.

_There has to be something in my hand I could use...s_he thought to herself. _Wait...there were something called Equip Spells that I could use to strength my monsters...do I have one in my hand?_

She looked at the cards in her hand and looked to her far left, seeing an armored knight with a crossbow on his left hand. An idea came into mind.

"What's wrong?" Keith asked, mockingly. "You figured out that you wouldn't win?"

May smirked. "No, I just found a way to make my Pharaoh a little stronger!" At that, the Pokémon Coordinator thought she heard Atem whisper _Goddess_ in her ear, as if he could read her thoughts. "I play Ritual Weapon, and equip it to my Ancient Pharaoh!"

Atem's sword was soon replaced with a golden crossbow with the bow looking like lightning bolts. At the center was a purple circle with a green circle of runes surrounding it. Atem's body began to glow as its attack rose all the way to 4500.

_How dare she! _Keith yelled in his mind. _I'm not going to be bested by a little girl!_

"Atem, attack his Barrel Dragon with Dark Slash!" May commanded. Atem nodded his head as he ran toward the mechanized monster. But as he was about to attack, it was blocked by an invisible force field and was forced back onto May's side of the field.

"What?!" May gasped. "What's going on? What did you just do?"

Bandit Keith laughed as he revealed his Trap Card.

"You fell for my Negate Attack!" He explained. "Your Battle Phase ends now, so best end your turn, and see what I have in store for you!"

May snarled as she placed one card face down. "That's it." She stated.

Bandit Keith smirked as he activated his own Pot of Greed. Two more cards came into his hand as he smirked.

"Now, let's play a game of chance!" he smirked as Barrel Dragon's cannons began to glow again.

The whir made May's heart skip a beat. It was strange when she relied on luck with Skitty's Assist or Munchlax's Metronome, but compared to using them for close wins in Pokémon Contests against a battle to the death with her soul on the line, it made the Contests seem more like child's play.

The first cannon was surrounded by a blue glow, giving May a chance to sigh. Then the second one had a red glow.

"This is it..." Keith said with a maniacal grin. "This last cannon will determine what happens next."

May gulped when she saw the third cannon turned red...the effect was successful. Bandit Keith cackled.

"Now, Barrel Dragon!" said Keith, pointing to Dark Horus. "Destroy that dragon once and for all!"

Three shots fired from the cannons, hitting May's dark dragon. A loud screech echoed in the alleyway as cracks emerged around Dark Horus's chest and then was destroyed with a loud BOOM! Atem's Attack power went down to 4,200.

"And I'm not done yet!" Keith continued. "I sacrifice both of my monsters to summon Zoa in Attack mode!"

The monsters were soon replaced with a blue skinned fiend with a diabolical face, crouching on all fours. Spikes protruded from its shoulders and teeth ready to rip Atem into shreds. The seal on its forehead made it look even more gruesome. (2600/1900) -) (3100/1900)

"What's that going to do?" May asked. "Even with the Orichalcos, it still can't defeat Atem."

Keith laughed once more as he activated his trap card, depicting a type of monster that was coated silver with shining claws and red eyes.

"I equip my Metalmorph to Zoa! Then, I'll sacrifice it to bring out Metalzoa!" May gasped when she saw the mechanized version of the Fiend appeared, brandishing its sharp claws while the Seal of Orichalcos appeared on its forehead. (3000/2300) -) (3500/2300)

"That's still not enough!" said May. "You have just as much luck in destroying Atem like Team Rocket does in capturing Pikachu; none!" She looked at both of the monsters, noting the 800 point difference. It was still a good sign that she'd win...right?

"That's what you think," Keith said with a grin. "I activate Limiter Removal, which doubles the attack and defense power of my Machine monster!"

The Spell Card depicting a broken limiter materialized as Metalzoa roared. It grew larger and larger, its attack points now at a total of 7,000 while its defense was now 4,600! Atem and May stared at the Machine Monster in fear as Bandit Keith laughed once more.

"This shall be your doom!" he yelled. "Metalzoa, destroy her monster with Metallic Glimmer Claws!"

Metalzoa lifted its arm, then attacked, piercing Atem's chest with its claws. Atem's lips opened to form a gasp as blood escaped his mouth before he turned to May with a look of horror in his eyes.

_I'm sorry..._Atem whispered in her mind before he began to fade away. That time, May could feel pain around her chest—right around the spot where Atem was stabbed. She looked at the Trap Card she placed earlier and nodded her head.

"Not so fast!" May cried, activating her face-down card. It showed some sort of tube of medicine with a red Z and the numbers 4,000 painted on it. The stopper was a purple skull with wings.

"Nutrient Z?!" Keith gasped out. "But...that means you gain 4,000 life points _before_ you took the damage!"

"Let's see..." May muttered, counting on her fingers as she recalled the effect of Nutrient Z. "I had 2,750 Life Points, and Metalzoa's attack meant I lost 2,800, which means I would've lost the duel. But since I was going to take more than 2,000 points of damage, I gained 4,000 and thus my Life Points rose to 6,750 before dropping down to 3,950. That's sort of like saying I barely lost any Life Points at all."

Keith's anger was reaching his boiling point; he was getting owned by a little girl, and he couldn't do anything about it! He was grinding his teeth in anger as he played the last card in his hand.

"In case you didn't know, all Machine monsters affected with Limiter removal are destroyed when I end my turn," he continued. "But I'll play Mystic Wok, sacrificing my Metalzoa and converting its attack points into more life points!"

A Spell Card depicting a wok being heated by a fire materialized before Metalzoa began to glow in a golden light and disintegrated into golden sparkles. Bandit Keith began to glow in a golden light, as he felt himself grow stronger.

"You're lucky I have no more cards." Keith explained. "But whatever you have won't be enough to defeat me."

**(Bandit Keith: 8750) - (May: 3950)**

May didn't want to be scared as she assessed the situation. She had no monsters in her hands, nor did she have any cards that could summon monsters. Her best monster was sent to the Graveyard, and Bandit Keith was ahead by almost 5,000 Life Points; all she had was one measly Continuous Spell Card. It looked hopeless...What made it worse was that there was no way to escape—Shuppet was unconscious and the Seal of Orichalcos prevented her from leaving.

_Keep it together. _May thought to herself. _It looks bleak, but you've faced other challenges. Trust in that thing Max said...what was it again? The Heart of the Cards. Right. Trust in that...and take a deep breath._

She closed her eyes as she recalled the conversation the two siblings had back at the Game Shop, the one about belief in one's deck.

"_The Heart of the Cards? That's...weird."_

"_No, it isn't! When you look like you're in a tight situation, call for the Heart of the Cards...and it'll give you the card you'll need to win the duel! That's how Yugi defeated Kaiba, and how he was champion at the Duelist Kingdom __**and**_ _Battle City Tournaments!"_

"_Really? Then maybe when I'm in a situation like that, I'll ask for the Heart of the Cards for guidance."_

May opened her eyes as the memory ended-if there was ever time for a miracle, it was now. She felt Atem and Kura's hands on top of hers, helping her draw a card from her deck.

_Heart of the Cards...please guide us..._ May replied. She didn't stare at her card for a while, not wanting to see what she had drawn.

"I don't have all night!" Keith snapped at her. "Play the damn card before I end you!"

May looked at the card, tears nearly falling out of her eyes...she had drawn a monster...but now what?

_Goddess..._ Atem said in her mind, as May turned to see him. _I have a special ability that lets me come back to the field, should I be destroyed in battle. Use that in conjunction with the cards in your hands and you win the battle and defeat him._

_All right..._ May nodded her head before facing Bandit Keith. "I activate Atem's special ability! When he's destroyed in battle by another monster, I can Banish a Dark monster from the Graveyard to bring him back! So I choose Ritual Raven to resurrect my Pharaoh!"

The Ritual Raven card popped out of her graveyard as May grabbed it. She pocketed it into her waist pack as Atem appeared on the field once more. Anger was on his face as shadows swarmed around him, raising his attack to 2700.

"That's not going to be enough." Keith explained, taunting the young girl.

"It gets better." May added. "I can still Normal Summon, so let's bring out my Pharaoh's good friend, **Kura, The Thief Lord**, in Attack Mode!"

A portal of shadows appeared next to Atem, revealing the white haired thief, wielding a dagger in his hands. He let out a laugh as he licked the blade of his weapon with glee. (1800/1600) -) (2400/1600)

Atem and Kura stared at each other, both of them nodding their heads. Atem's attack rose to 3,000.

"That's still not enough," Keith replied mockingly. "Face it! The power that the Orichalcos has given me is stronger than your pathetic monsters and your pathetic 'Revenge of the Dark King'! So why bother?! You're going to lose in the end!"

At first May wanted to retort...but then, she started to laugh. It was absurd, but she did it either way. For some reason, the threats he were giving her were just so goddamn hilarious! Accompanying her were the two warriors, each of them laughing alongside their Goddess.

"What's so damn funny?!" Bandit Keith replied. May laughed a bit before taking a deep breath.

"You think your little Seal scares me?!" she exclaimed, a rush of power filling her body. "You don't know what _true_ darkness is like until you've actually had no _choice_ but to be bonded to it!"

"What are you trying to get at?!" Keith asked through gritted teeth.

"I'm just saying that the darkness I'm about to show you is going to be the last thing you will ever see!" May placed one of her Spell Cards into the disk. "I play my Spell Card, **Dark Soul Binding**!"

The card appeared on the field, depicting Atem clutching his heart in pain as a dark aura surrounded him, his shadow showing off his dark draconic wings. On the field, Atem smirked, his teeth forming sharp fangs that looked like they would tear into Bandit Keith's neck with a swift movement and then relish in devouring him whole.

"This Spell Card is unique because I can use it to sacrifice Atem, along with banishing two Dark monsters in my graveyard, to unleash his stronger self," May explained, ejecting both Double Coston and Breaker the Magical Warrior from her graveyard. "So now, I shall bring forth **Atem - Pharaoh of the Dark Realm** in Attack Mode!"

Atem let out a roar as he was surrounded by a plume of black and red fire, his eyes glowing white while the souls of May's sacrificed monsters were thrown in to make the flames grow larger. Bandit Keith took a step back when the flames dispersed, revealing Atem with his dark wings and a white tunic edged with black. Dark markings surrounded Atem's face, and his sword was carved with numerous hieroglyphics and dripped with blood. (2800/2400) -) (3400/2400)

Atem stared at May and smiled. May, instead of showing fear like she did when they first met 24 hours ago, smiled back.

_Thank you for releasing me._ said Atem, unfurling his wings before turning back at their opponent. _Now, use my power to destroy this man!_

"What have I've been telling you?" Bandit Keith exclaimed, although it sounded like he was trying to hide his fear at the monster. "That's not enough!" May could only smirk at the statement.

"Then, you don't know about my monster's special ability!" she announced. "I can Special Summon one Dark monster from my Graveyard onto the field, as long as I sacrifice the first two cards on the top of my deck. That monster is sent back to the Graveyard at my End Phase, though. It doesn't matter anyway, because this is the one that will spell my victory!"

May drew two cards from her deck and sent them to the graveyard. One card popped out of the graveyard as she placed it on her Duel Disk.

"And guess who's come back for an encore?!" she announced.

A loud screech knocked Bandit Keith off his feet when he saw the figure of Dark Horus appearing once more. The black dragon let out another roar as May's Revenge of the Dark King Spell card activated and empowered the Dark monsters that she controlled: Dark Horus's attack points were now at 3900, Kura was at 2900, and Atem now had 3700.

"Can you do the math?" May continued. "That's 10,500 attack points combined! You're finished!"

"NO!" Bandit Keith screamed. "I won't lose to a little brat like you!"

"Correction," said May. "You'll lose to May, Pokémon Coordinator and her deck of Dark Monsters!" She pointed to her opponent. "So now, Dark Horus, attack with Dark Flare Blitz! Kura, use Shadow Puncture! Atem, end it with Dark Realm Slash!"

Dark Horus attacked first, letting out a burst of black fire, causing Bandit Keith's life points to go down to 4850. Kura then rushed up to him, stabbing his arm with his dagger, and decreased the life points down to 1950. Atem simply walked toward Bandit Keith, fury on his face as he lifted Bandit Keith's chin with his sword so the dark Pharaoh could stare into the eyes of the coward.

"How dare you try and insult my Goddess of Joy!" Atem hissed. "You made her cry, you heartless monster!" He narrowed his eyes as his voice dropped to a whisper, and it felt like the area around them grew silent. "May you rot in the Shadow Realm for all eternity..."

Bandit Keith trembled at the demonic look in the Pharaoh's eyes. His smug demeanor now showed a face of cowardice and fear as he grabbed onto Atem's legs to beg for mercy.

"Don't hurt me!" he cried. "I didn't mean to attack her! I was just told to..."

Atem punched Bandit Keith in the face, sending him flying toward the Seal of Orichalcos's barrier. The wings on the Pharaoh's back unfurled, making him resemble some sort of demon king ready to take a sinner into the depths of Hell itself…just like how May first thought of him before she knew the truth about him...

Or _did_ she really know the truth about him?

"A...Atem?" May whispered, seeing this dark aura surrounding the Pharaoh. She looked back at Kura, who also looked like he was going to kill someone, and watched as he unfurled his skeletal wings. "Kura? W...what's going..."

"DIE!" Atem screamed, stabbing his Khopesh sword into Keith stomach. May closed her eyes and covered her ears with her hands when she heard the scream.

**(Bandit Keith: 0) - (May: 3950)**

Once she felt that it was over, May looked to see the Seal of Orichalcos shrinking...then it centered around Bandit Keith, who looked like he was in a state of panic.

"You told me I was invincible!" he screamed to no one. "How could you do this to me?! How could you?!" That was the last that was heard when May saw Bandit Keith collapse onto the ground and the Seal vanished. There was some silence as the wings vanished from Atem's back and he turned to face May.

_He's gone now. He won't be back._ he answered. _You are safe now._

"What was all of that?" May asked, staring at the Dark Soul Binding card in her hand. "Why did you say all of that stuff? And that threat about the Shadow Realm...I never thought you would be so... so ruthless."

_If it means that I can protect you, so be it._ Atem's arm trembled as he stared as his blood coated sword._ I will __never_ _let anyone hurt you, Goddess of Joy. I would rather die than let that happen again._

"Again? Wait, this has happened before?"

Atem didn't say anything, but rather turned away to stare at the fallen duelist. Gulping, May went to Bandit Keith, trying to wake him up by shaking him gently.

_Don't go near him!_ Kura commanded. May turned around, seeing the wings on his back also vanished. _He is the enemy, he tried to hurt you._

"He's still human, though," May replied, nudging Keith with her shoe. "Come on, this isn't funny!" She then saw the Seal of Orichalcos card float down onto the ground. Catching it in the air, she gasped as she saw the scared image of Bandit Keith staring at her...she dropped the card in a panic.

"Did Atem...did he really kill him?" she said in a whisper. Her heart was beating loudly as she took in a couple of deep breaths. That's when she remembered what Bandit Keith said before the duel started; that the loser of the duel loses their soul. She stepped back in alarm.

"Shuppet?" May turned to see the Ghost Pokémon float to her. "Shuppet!"

"Shuppet, you're all right!" She cried, hugging the Ghost Pokémon. "Thank goodness...thank goodness..."

Atem and Kura placed a hand on May's shoulders. Both of them smiled as she felt a slight blush appear on her face once more. She looked up to see Dark Horus bowing at her, its wings tucked in and its yellow eyes staring at her with wonder.

_You really are a Goddess..._ Atem replied with sincerity. _Look at how Dark Horus bows at you._

_You have some skill in luck, also._ Kura added. _You risked the chance to summon Dark Horus on your first turn and it paid off...there are good things ahead of you._

"Thank you," May whispered. "I hope that I can continue being a better 'Goddess' to all of you, no matter what happens." A smile was on her face as she continued. "Because no matter what, as long as I trust in my cards, then nothing will stop me!"

Dark Horus roared in approval as the three monsters soon disappeared. There was some silence as Shuppet flew near the unconscious duelist. It was staring at the necklace around his neck.

"What are you looking at, Shuppet?" May asked, trying to follow the Ghost Pokémon's line of vision. That's when she noticed the glowing green stone on the man's neck. May knelt toward Bandit Keith's unconscious body and yanked the necklace off. She inspected it closer-it was a glowing green rock that radiated with some sort of evil power.

"It glows the same color as that Seal did," She noted, picking it up and inspecting it from all angles. "It looks really nice though, and it's not like he's going to be using it in the future. I best hold onto it, just in case." She pocketed the necklace into her waist pack. "Now come on Suppet, we have to get back to Yugi and the others. Can you take me there, Shuppet?

Shuppet nodded its head as its eyes began to glow blue. May herself floating in the sky as they began to fly toward their friends' destination.

**0-0-0-0-0**

**Trap Mirror (Trap Card)**

Type: Trap/Normal

Attribute: -

Level: -

Attack: -

Defense: -

Image: An image of a Trap Card depicted amongst numerous mirrors

Description: Activate this card to copy the effect of one Trap Card that has been used in the Duel and has been sent to the graveyard.

**0**

**0**

**Revenge of the Dark King (Spell Card)**

Type: Continuous/Spell

Attribute: -

Level: -

Attack: -

Defense: -

Image: Atem, the Ancient Pharaoh sitting on his throne with a black dragon behind him. He also has a pair of black dragon wings on his back.

Description: All Dark Monsters on your side of the field gain an additional 300 attack points for every other Dark Monster in play on your side of the field.

**0**

**0**

**Pharaoh's Prophecy (Spell Card)**

Type: Spell/Ritual

Attribute: -

Level: -

Attack: -

Defense: -

Image: A spiky haired silhouette staring at the Tablet of the Pharaoh.

Description: This card is used to Ritual Summon "Atem-The Ancient Pharaoh". You must sacrifice a Level 4 Dark Monster from the field or in your hand to activate this card.

**0**

**0**

**Atem - The Ancient Pharaoh** **(Monster Card)**

Type: Warrior/Ritual/Effect

Attribute: Dark

Level: 4

Attack: 2400

Defense: 1700

Description: This card can only be Ritual Summoned with the Ritual Spell Card "Pharaoh's Prophecy". When this card is destroyed in battle, remove from play one Dark monster from the graveyard to Special Summon this monster during your next Standby Phase.

**0**

**0**

**Kura - The Thief Lord (Monster Card)**

Type: Warrior/Effect

Attribute: Dark

Level: 4

Attack: 1800

Defense: 1600

Description: If this card is targeted by the effects of a Trap Card, discard one card from your hand to negate it. Banish one Trap Card from your graveyard for this monster to randomly discard one card from your opponent's hand.

**0**

**0**

**Dark Soul Binding (Spell Card)**

Type: Spell

Attribute: -

Level: -

Attack: -

Defense: -

Image: Atem - The Ancient Pharaoh grasping onto his heart with a hand consumed by black fire, while his shadow depicts a pair of black draconic wings.

Description: Tribute 1 face-up "Atem - The Ancient Pharaoh" and banish two Dark Monsters from your graveyard. Special Summon 1 "Atem - Pharaoh of the Dark Realm" from your hand, deck or graveyard.

**0**

**0**

**Atem - Pharaoh of the Dark Realm** **(Monster Card)**

Type: Warrior/Ritual

Attribute: Dark

Level: 7

Attack: 2800

Defense: 2400

Description: Cannot be Normal Summoned/Set. Must be Special Summoned with Dark Soul Binding. Once per turn, you can Special Summon one Dark Monster from your graveyard onto the field by discarding the top two cards from your deck. The monster Special Summoned by this effect will be destroyed by your End Phase.

**0-0-0-0-0**

**May: I'm glad that I survived, although I'm afraid of what Atem became.**

**Max: I'm afraid in general. This duel with the Orichalcos frightens me.**

**May: Just trust in the Heart of the Cards.**

**Max: Tell that to the giant Egyptian God Card that wants to pummel us to death!**

**May: Next time, "Between My Brother and Me - De Novo" Chapter 4: Hero Kid**

**Max: It's time to be brave and to take the stage!**


	5. IV: Hero Kid

**Between My Brother and Me - De Novo  
**

**4: Hero Kid**

"_A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles."_

_-Christopher Reeve_

Max had to focus on retrieving the Egyptian God Cards. It was hard, considering he had no idea how his sister was doing after being kidnapped, but he knew that his sister was tough; if anything, she would fight the biker back with her Pokémon and be back with Shuppet faster than he could say, "Team Rocket's blasting off again!" For now, he had to go after the bikers and hopefully stop them from doing whatever it was that they were planning, alongside finding information on Manaphy and Jirachi.

The motorcyclists lead the five to an abandoned building, Max felt like his lungs were on fire with every flight of stairs he climbed. But he had to stay strong—May was being strong despite her kidnapping, so he had to be strong also. Eventually, he made it to the rooftop, dropping to his knees as he took in a deep breath of air into his tired lungs.

"We're...here..." he panted, hand on his heart. "Now...what?" Téa went to stroke his back as Max began to cough.

"Looks like we'll have to face him," said Yami, pointing to the cloaked man on the tip section of a very large jib crane. The man jumped off of the crane (which Max noted should've been at most a thirty to forty foot drop) and landed on a wooden platform. He pulled the hood of his clock down, revealing a man in his late 40's with a monocle covering his left eye. Adorning his neck was a large green stone with a six-pointed star carved in the middle.

"Welcome, Pharaoh," the man announced. "I am Grimo, and I will make this very short. _I_ have something _you_ desire: the Egyptian God Cards. And _you_ possess something _I_ desire—your soul."

"Those cards don't belong to you," said Yami, climbing onto the platform. "They possess a power you cannot comprehend, and you best hand them over before someone gets hurt."

"I'm aware of their powers," Grimo smirked. "But if you are so willing to get them back, you must face me in a duel!"

"You talk big," Max noted. "But Yugi's going to beat you down for the count!"

"All right," said Yami, narrowing his eyes. "But remember this, Grimo: when you're Life Points drop to 0, I gave you the chance to walk away. Now let's..."

"Wait!" Max shouted suddenly, rushing to Yami's side. His Duel Disk activated as he added, "You're not going to fight this alone! I'll fight too!"

"What are you _doing_?!" Tristan exclaimed. "You just got that Duel Disk today, didn't you? You won't be able to duel against this kook!"

"So? I'm a fast learner!" Max grinned as he turned to Yami. "Plus, I'll have a great teacher to help me show the ropes. What do you say? Wanna have this a 2-on-1 duel?"

"This kid is going off on a suicide mission!" Joey noted. "His sister is gonna be very mad when she finds out."

Yami turned to Max, seeing the determination in the young boy's eyes. He smiled and nodded his head as he pointed to Grimo.

"Grimo," he said. "Max and I will take back the Egyptian God Cards, and put an end to your schemes! So now, it's time to duel!"

"Let's take the stage!" Max cried, drawing his five cards. He giggled as he added, "May's not the only one capable of saying that!"

"Very well then," Grimo's Duel Disk activated, revealing a scythe-like tray. "This will be your graves!"

**(Grimo: 8000) - (Yami: 4000)(Max: 4000)**

"All right," said Max, drawing a card. He looked in awe at what he was seeing—he was dueling for the first time alongside the King of Games! Looking at his hand, he picked a Monster Card with four stars. "I think I'll start with... Defender, the Magical Knight in Defense Mode!"

With a cry, a Spellcaster with light blue skin and matching armor with yellow lines, appeared on the field. In his hands was a small dagger and a blue and yellow shield with a red orb in the center. (1600/2000)

"And when Defender is summoned successfully," Max continued. "He gets a Spell Counter placed on him. What it does, I'll keep that secret." He laughed once more, a wide grin on his face.

Defender smiled as he noted the orb on his shield was glowing. (SC: 1)

"Then, I'll play this card face-down," Max placed a card in the Spell/Trap Card Zone, watching as a large version of the card materialized behind Defender. "And, that ends my turn! You're up, Yugi!"

"I'll start with this," said Yami, drawing his card. "I summon Beta the Magnet Warrior in Attack Mode."

A strange yellow monster, with horseshoe magnets that acted as hands and a pair of horns on its head, materialized, ready to strike. (1700/1600) Max looked like he was going to jump for joy at the monster.

"Then, I place one card f-down and end my turn," Yami slipped his own card into the Spell/Trap Card Zone. Grimo smirked, drawing his own card.

As the duel proceeded, three figures emerged from the rooftop above them. Max looked up, seeing them, but had no idea what they were saying.

_Those must be the same bikers from the Game Shop_. He thought. _What are they doing here if they have the Egyptian God Cards?_

"I really hope that sicko doesn't play the Egyptian God Cards," Téa noted, her voice full of worry. "I mean...they're impossible to destroy."

"Don't sweat it," said Joey. "Yugi is the King of Games—there's not a duel he can lose."

"It's not him I'm worried about," said Téa, turning to Max. Joey immediately realized what she meant and just nodded his head silently.

"I summon my Marauding Captain," said Grimo, placing a card on the tray of his Duel Disk. At the same time, a warrior in silver armor and wielding two swords appeared. (1200/800)

"Interesting..." said Yami.

"It is?" asked Max. "What do you mean?"

"Marauding Captain allows the duelist to Special Summon another Warrior-type monster from their hand. Not to mention, Marauding Captain would prevent us from attacking other warriors that Grimo would summon. So if he summoned a _second_ Marauding Captain..."

"We wouldn't be able to attack at all!" Max finished. "That's smart."

"That _would_ be the obvious choice," said Grimo, waving a finger at them. "But I have something even better. I'll be using my Marauding Captain's ability to summon my Command Knight in Attack Mode!"

A second warrior emerged, this one being a female warrior in red knight armor and a raccoon hat on top of her head, wielding a sword. (1200/1900)

"And with her on the field," Grimo continued. "All Warrior-type monsters get an additional 400 Attack Points! Not to mention, _she_ can't be attacked as long as I have another monster on the field."

Command Knight raised her sword in the air, as both she and Marauding Captain's attack scores now read as 1600.

"Big deal," Max replied with a shrug of his shoulders. "Beta has 1700 Attack Points, and Defender has 2000 Defense Points. What are you going to do now?"

And at that, Grimo smirked.

"I am about to unleash a power as old as time itself," he answered, revealing a card in his hand. "I call upon the power that is known as the Seal of Orichalcos! So now you will experience the ancient force that came from the depths of Atlantis!"

A harsh wind began to blow as the Seal of Orichalcos was placed inside the Field Card Zone of Grimo's Duel Disk. Suddenly, the runes that decorated the deck holder of his Duel Disk began to glow, and up above where storm clouds brewed, a large ring of glowing green runes began to descend.

"What's going on?" asked Yami, watching as the Seal rested all around him, Max and Grimo, two pairs of lines emerging to form a six-pointed star. When the star was formed, it created a shockwave of energy that knocked Tristan, Joey and Téa off of their feet.

"My friends!" Yami exclaimed, rushing to help them. Just as he was about to leave the platform, he hit a strange force field that made him stumble back. Max looked at Yami then back at the barrier just before charging toward it himself. Unfortunately, he was also unable to do anything and had to step back.

"The Seal prevents all duelists within its power from escaping," Grimo chuckled. "And it simultaneously makes sure outsiders aren't allowed to interfere. Once the duel is over, only the victor is permitted to leave." He laughed as a miniature version of the Seal materialized on his forehead and his eyes were washed in a red glow. "The loser has his soul trapped within the Seal for all eternity."

"If that is what you have, then I shall destroy your magic," said Yami. A golden eye appeared on his forehead, and the Millennium Puzzle began to glow. Max looked in awe, curious as to what type of magic would appear. Just as the light from the Millennium Puzzle was about to shatter the Orichalcos...it faded. Grimo laughed once more while Yami looked on in shock and horror.

"The Orichalcos existed far before the pyramids of Egypt were even designed," he said. "Your toy is worthless, Pharaoh. And since it resides on my side of the field, it grants me unlimited power. For starters, all monsters on my side of the field gain an additional 500 Attack Points!"

Small versions of the Orichalcos marked the foreheads of Marauding Captain and Command Knight, and a glint of red covered their eyes making them look fierce and, in a way, evil. Their Attack Scores both read 2100.

"Not good!" Max gulped. "Now they can destroy our monsters!"

"Exactly!" Grimo cackled. "Now Marauding Captain, destroy that Magnet Warrior! And Command Knight, take down that Magic Knight!"

Both warriors jumped into the air, their swords shining from the light of the Orichalcos. Marauding Knight sliced Beta the Magnet Warrior in half with his swords, taking some of Yami's Life Points with it.

**(Grimo: 8000) - (Yami: 3600)(Max: 4000)**

Command Knight readied her sword to slice Defender's head off. Max smiled.

"Defender," he said. "Block the attack now!"

Defender smiled as he raised his shield in the air, Command Knight's sword barely making a scratch. The orb on his shield began to lose its color. (SC: 1) → (SC: 0)

"What?" asked Grimo. "My monster was stronger! How were you able to stop the attack?"

"Simple," said Max. "When a Spellcaster is about to be destroyed during the Battle Phase, Defender can give up all Spell Counters on the field to save them. Since you were attempting to destroy Defender, all I did was give up the Spell Counter on him, and there you go!"

"Nice move Max," said Yami, causing Max to blush. "But now, it's my turn! I activate my face-down card, Soul Rope. By sacrificing 1000 Life Points, I will able to summon Gamma the Magnet Warrior to the field from my deck in Defense Mode!"

The card flipped over, revealing two men with a bond of light connecting them. The card faded away as a pink mechanical Magnet Warrior appeared with a large 'S' on its stomach. (1500/1800)

**(Grimo: 8000) - (Yami: 2600)(Max: 4000)**

"Summon as many monsters as you want," Grimo replied, placing a face-down card onto the field. "There's nothing you have that will stop the Orichalcos."

"Then it looks like I'll have to do something about it," said Max, drawing his card.

**0-0-0-0-0**

Behind Max, Tristan, Joey and Téa stood up, nursing the bruises they obtained from falling. They were just as confused about the appearance of the Orichalcos as Yami and Max were, and there was nothing they could do except watch.

"About what that guy said," said Téa. "What happens to the loser of the duel? He said something about souls being sealed."

"Yugi will win," Joey replied. "I can't say about the kid though. He's charging into a running boulder without any means to protect himself."

"His sister will kill us," Tristan noted once more, grabbing his arm.

**0-0-0-0-0**

On the rooftop, the three bikers looked at the scene below. The tallest one winced a bit, recollecting how he and that levitating girl looked into each other's eyes. Something about that girl made him feel...sentimental.

"Hey, Raphael," said a voice. Raphael turned to a younger biker with brown spiky hair and a pair of goggles perched on his head. "That man you hired is not half bad. I say half because he apparently can't destroy that little kid's wimpy magician."

"It's not the kid we should be focusing on, Valon," Raphael replied. "We need to see if the

Pharaoh is strong as Master Dartz said he is. What do you think, Alister?"

"Hmph," said a man with short red hair, and whose eyes were covered by a pair of sunglasses with dark-gold lens. "If he doesn't match up, then it's up to Seto Kaiba to step up."

"Don't forget Wheeler," Valon added, noticing the blond duelist. "I've got a bone to pick with him, that's for sure."

**0-0-0-0-0**

"For this turn, I'm going to summonnnnn...my Silent Magician LV 4 to the field!" said Max, playing a monster.

In a pillar of light, a young girl materialized next to Defender, The Magical Knight. She was dressed in a white robe with a blue eye design on the middle, and a pointed white had covering her white spiky hair. In her hands was a matching wand and when she saw Max, she turned and waved to him. (1000/1000)

_Huh?_ Max thought, blinking to make sure his eyes didn't deceive him. Silent Magician LV 4 was now facing Grimo, but the image of the magician waving to him just wouldn't go away.

"It seems like you activated my Trap Card, Hidden Soldiers!" said Grimo, revealing a card depicting a troop of soldiers hiding in a trench. "This lets me summon a Dark-type monster from my hand onto the field, as long as its level is less than 4. So now, I shall summon Dark Crusader onto the field in Attack Mode!"

A warrior emerged from the shadows, having black armor and wielding a black falchion with bones decorating the cross-guard and grip. On top of the warrior's head was a bed of red hair, and on his back was a red cape. The skull-faced warrior grinned as the Orichalcos shined on its forehead. (1600/200) → (2500/200)

"I'm not done," said Max. "I play my face-down card, Pitch-Black Power Stone!"

The face-down card flipped over, revealing a black orb with a yellow pyramid in the center, segmented into four parts, and a black circle in the middle. Silent Magician LV 4 smiled as she tried to grab some orbs floating over her head.

"Max, what does that card do?" asked Yami.

"It lets me place up to three Spell Counters on other cards that use Spell Counters," Max answered. "So now, I'll give two to Silent Magician LV 4, and she'll get 500 Attack Points for every Spell Counter on her!"

Two Spell Counters floated around Silent Magician LV 4, before being absorbed into the girl's body. She smiled as her body radiated a bright aura. (1000/1000) → (2000/1000)

"And there's more!" Max continued. "I'll equip my Equip Spell Card, Bound Wand, to give my magician even more power. She'll get 100 Attack Points for every level she has!"

The Spell Card materialized, depicting a black wand topped with a giant red crystal. Silent Magician LV 4 wielded it with one hand, twirling around now that she had two wands. (2000/1000) → (2400/1000)

"So now," Max pointed to Marauding Captain. "Silent Magician, attack with Silent Light!"

Silent Magician flew to the air, raised both wands over her head, and then lowered her hands to unleashed two bolts of lightning that caused the Marauding Captain to disintegrate.

**(Grimo: 7700) - (Yami: 2600)(Max: 4000)**

"I did it!" Max said, jumping up and down. "I caused him to lose Life Points! Did you see that, Yugi? I attacked and destroyed one of his monsters! This is so exciting! I feel like I'm going to-"

"Max," Yami interrupted. "Focus here!"

"Oh, right," Max cleared his throat. "I'll end my turn at that. Your move, Yugi!"

"All right," Yami drew his card. "I activate Premature Burial, to bring back Beta the Magnet Warrior back to the field at the cost of 800 Life Points!"

An Equip Spell Card appeared, depicting a soul rising out from a red seal. Beta the Magnet Warrior materialized as Yami's Life Points dropped. (1700/1600)

**(Grimo: 7700) - (Yami: 1800)(Max: 4000)**

"And that's not all," Yami continued. "I summon my newly drawn Alpha the Magnet Warrior in Attack Mode!"

A third Magnet Warrior appeared alongside its brothers, this one a grey rock-like warrior wielding a sword and shield. Decorating its body were horseshoe magnets. (1400/1700)

"What are you going to do with all these monsters?" asked Max, looking at the Magnet trio compared to his two Magicians. "I mean, they aren't as strong as Grimo's..."

"There are strength in numbers, Max," Yami smiled. "Watch as I sacrifice my Magnet Warriors to create their Champion: Valkyrion the Magna Warrior!"

The Magnet Warriors disassembled into metal. Max watched in awe as magnetism combined the parts to transform into a huge warrior marked with the letters N and S on various parts of its body, pink mechanical wings from Gamma the Magnet Warrior, Alpha the Magnet Warrior's sword in one hand, and bright yellow joints courtesy of Beta the Magnet Warrior. It let out a low hum that sounded like a battle cry. (3500/3850)

"Wowee!" said Max, seeing the Magna Warrior. "That's amazing!"

"Grimo better figure out a way to win, before the Pharaoh kicks his ass all the way to the Shadow Realm," Valon snickered, all while watching Max jump up and down in excitement. He narrowed his eyes as he observed the kid a little closer. For some reason, the boy was familiar.

"Now Valkyrion," said Yami. "Destroy his Dark Crusader with Magnetic Slash!"

Valkyrion flew to the other side of the field, slashing Dark Crusader in half. Max cheered once more, relishing in how Command Knight was the only monster left on Grimo's side of the field.

**(Grimo: 6700) - (Yami: 1800)(Max: 4000)**

"I'm impressed with you both," said Grimo. "I haven't had a challenge in such a long time. Too bad it ends here. Now, it's my turn."

As he drew, another Spell Counter flew towards Silent Magician LV 4, increasing her Attack to 2900. (SC: 3) Yami turned to Max.

"Whenever the opponent draws, Silent Magician LV 4 gets a Spell Counter," Max explained. "But I highly doubt Grimo can summon a monster that can beat ours." He paused as he noticed the smirk on Grimo's face. "Unless..."

"Oh no," Yami gasped. "You can't be doing what I think you're doing...only certain people are allowed summon them!"

"But I am," Grimo laughed, revealing the card he drew. "I play Card of Sanctity, so now we all draw until we have six cards in our hands!"

The Spell Card depicted men catching coins raining from the sky. Soon, holographic coins poured down like rain, as everyone drew cards. Max drew three cards, Yami drew four, and Grimo five. Grimo began to cackle as he looked at the cards in his hand. Another Spell Counter was absorbed by Silent Magician LV 4. (SC: 4)

"I can see your souls becoming mine!" he said. "It's all in my hand and it all starts with my Premature Burial and Monster Reborn cards to summon my fallen warriors!"

"Premature Burial and Monster Reborn?" Max asked as he turned to Yami.

"As you watched me do with Beta, Grimo can Special Summon a monster from his Graveyard at the cost of 800 Life Points," Yami answered. "And Monster Reborn can let him Special Summon a monster from either his Graveyard or ours."

"Ohhhh…." Max paused and then stepped back. "UH-OH!"

**(Grimo: 5900) - (Yami: 1800)(Max: 4000)**

Dark Crusader and Marauding Captain rematerialized, their eyes glowing red as their Attack Scores were now 2500 and 2100, respectively. Then, they along with Command Knight faded as the rooftop began to tremble.

"What's going on?!" asked Tristan. "It can't be..."

"Rise Obelisk the Tormentor!" Grimo laughed. "Serve me, and become infused with the Orichalcos!"

Max looked up, seeing the blue-skinned behemoth growl at him and Yami. The Seal of Orichalcos appeared on its forehead, a glowing green aura surrounding its massive body. (4000/4000) → (4500/4000)

"This is bad..." Max gulped. "This is really, _really_ bad! This is worse than that time Butler used Jirachi to wish up a fake Groudon or the time the with the renegade Rayquaza, or how about that time with the Tree of Life, but it's definitely not as bad as Groudon and Kyogre fighting each oth-"

"Calm down, Max!" said Yami, placing a hand on Max's shoulder. "If you show fear, then your opponent will exploit it. Show your courage."

"Right, courage." Max looked at Obelisk, and prayed that May's duel was better than what he was stuck in. "Although I don't think that alone is going to save us from Obelisk's attack. Don't you have a card that can destroy it? Or at least negate damage?"

"Unfortunately my Kuriboh hasn't been drawn yet," Yami answered, staring at his deck. "Forgive me, Valkyrion."

Valkyrion turned to Yami, uttering a low hum as it saw Obelisk rear its hand back.

"Obey me, Obelisk!" Grimo exclaimed. "Destroy that magnet warrior with Fist of Fate!"

Obelisk punched Valkyrion, and for a moment, Max thought he could hear a voice—a _human_ voice—from within Valkyrion. Then, the monster shattered, taking around half of Yami's remaining Life Points.

**(Grimo: 5900) - (Yami: 800)(Max: 4000)**

**0-0-0-0-0**

Back on the rooftops, the bikers noticed how Grimo stumbled a bit before shaking his head. Alister smirked.

"Seems the old geezer needs a rest," he surmised. "And the little brat doesn't even have a scratch on him."

"That's because Grimo's focusing on the Pharaoh, remember?" said Raphael. "Once the Pharaoh's out of the way, the rest of the world falls with him."

"And besides," said Valon. "Didn't Master Dartz mention how Egyptian God Cards and the Orichalcos make for a bad combination? Guess we know what _not_ to do in a duel."

"Why else do you think we let Grimo take the first shot at the Pharaoh?" Raphael chuckled.

**0-0-0-0-0**

Far away from the duel, blue feathered birds with white cloudy wings sensed something in the air. Something passed them by. It was a girl in blue and a Ghost-type Pokémon levitating her. The birds chirped in alarm before flying after the two, hoping to figure out where they were heading.

**0-0-0-0-0**

"An ancient evil is about to set free!" Grimo grinned. "It will feast upon your soul as nourishment and bring forth paradise."

"You're crazy," Yami snarled.

"Am I?" asked Grimo. "Why don't you ask my associates? Look, they're watching over us right now."

"Hey, wait a minute!" said Joey, looking up and seeing the three bikers from the Game Shop staring down at the scene below. "You're those biker guys who took those Egyptian God Cards back at the Game Shop!"

"Not to mention got humiliated by two kids and those creepy monsters of theirs!" Tristan added.

"They're called Pokémon!" Max exclaimed, turning around. He then looked back at Raphael and added, "Where's my sister?!"

"Aw, look at the little baby boy missing his big sister." Valon cackled. "Boo-hoo. The girl's getting what's coming to her thanks to one of our little friends. You'll see her soon once your soul gets sealed away."

"You won't be saying that if you were down here!" Max yelled. "And just what _are_ you guys?"

"We're soul collectors," Raphael answered, pulling two cards into his hand. "And we just gathered two poor unfortunate souls to let the Great Beast feed on."

"Wait...you don't mean..." Joey looked in horror as he put two and two together. "You sick bastards!"

"Language, Wheeler," said Valon, wagging a finger at Joey. "There are children present."

"Just like what happened in Duelist Kingdom." Yami muttered.

"What?" asked Max, turning to Yami.

"...It's nothing," Yami shook his head. "Max, make your move. We don't have time to waste."

"Right," Max drew a card and stared at his hand. Now that he had seven cards, he had to think of something, and fast. He turned to Silent Magician LV 4 and nodded his head.

"For my first move," he began. "I will use the last Spell Counter on Pitch-Black Power Stone and transfer it to Silent Magician Lv 4!"

The Trap Card shattered as Silent Magician LV 4 received another Spell Counter, raising her attack to 3900. (SC: 5)

"Next, I play Spell Power Grasp to give Defender another Spell Counter, and it lets me take another Spell Power Grasp into my hand."

A Spell Card depicting a strange black armored mage appeared. Defender smiled as the orb on his shield flickered to life. (SC: 1) Max took another card to his hand.

"And what do you know?" he smiled. "Now that Silent Magician LV 4 has five Spell Counters, I can sacrifice her to bring out her ultimate form! Come forth, Silent Magician LV 8!"

Silent Magician LV 4 closed her eyes as she began to grow. She grew about two feet in size and her face showed a wiser, more mature magician. She opened her eyes and pointed her staff at Obelisk. (3500/1000)

"So you summoned a strong monster," said Grimo. "It's still not strong enough to stop Obelisk."

"That's the thing," Max said, smiling at the cards in his hand. "I don't plan on attacking you this turn. As Yugi said, 'There are strength in numbers.' I'll show you what I mean with my next Spell Card, Double Summon! And now I can Normal Summon two monsters this turn."

A Spell Card materialized, depicting a magician conjuring a strange beast by its side. Then, two Spellcaster monsters appeared next to Defender and Silent Magician LV 8. There was a blue-skinned geisha with a flowery kimono, holding a scythe with a skeletal handle. (1700/0) The other was a woman in a long green cloak, and long black hair decorated with a simple circlet. (1700/1400)

"So you summoned more magicians," Grimo noted. "What good will they do?"

"My Maiden of the Macabre and Magical Exemplar have unique effects," Max explained. "But that's not why I summoned them. I brought them forth to play Magical Blast!"

A Spell Card appeared behind the magicians, depicting a silhouetted magician and beast releasing a giant orb of concentrated magic. The four magicians raised their hands into the air.

"While I can't attack, I can still make you lose Life Points," said Max. "For every Spellcaster on the field, you'll lose 200 Life Points! Fire at will!"

The four unleashed an orb of magic from their hands that hit Grimo in the stomach. The older duelist staggered back as Max smiled at his move. At the same time, two glowing orbs surrounded Magical Exemplar. (SC: 2)

**(Grimo: 5100) - (Yami: 800)(Max: 4000)**

"Nicely done, Max," said Yami, drawing his card. "Now it's my turn. I play Monster Reborn to bring back Valkyrion, the Magna Warrior!"

Valkyrion rose from a portal, sword ready to defend his master once more. (3500/3850)

"Now, disassemble and transform into the three Magnet Warriors once more!"

Valkyrion fell into pieces and began to form the original Alpha, Beta and Gamma Magnet Warriors, the three ready for a fight.

"Not this again," Grimo smirked. "I'll destroy them all and take the rest of your Life Points."

"Didn't you hear me earlier?" said Yami, wagging a finger at his opponent. "'There's always strength in numbers', and I'll prove this by playing Brave Attack!"

A new Spell Card appeared, depicting a monster being powered up with an addition equation based on three different monsters: Gazelle, King of Mythical Beasts, Obnoxious Celtic Guardian and Buster Blader. The three Magnet Warriors began to glow red, and flew towards Obelisk.

"What trickery is this?" asked Grimo. "Your monsters are powerless against Obelisk."

"Guess again," said Yami. "By combining their attack points, my Magnet Warriors will overcome the Egyptian God Card and bring it to the graveyard!"

Alpha landed a slash at Obelisk's chest before vanishing. Then Beta and Gamma punched the crack where Alpha's sword hit the Egyptian God, both Magnet Warriors vanishing after.

"Wait a minute," said Tristan. "Alpha had 1,400 Attack Points, and Beta has 1,700. That makes 3,100."

"And 3,100 plus Gamma's 1,500 means...4,600!" Joey finished. "That's enough to take Obelisk down for good!"

Obelisk groaned as it shattered to pieces. Max jumped even more for joy.

**(Grimo: 5000) - (Yami: 800)(Max: 4000)**

"Yugi is the King of Games!" he cried. "Obelisk is down for the count!"

"I'll end my turn by summoning Gazelle, the King of Mythical Beasts in Defense Mode," said Yami, placing a defensive monster on his side of the field. A lion with a horn protruding from its head appeared, crouching in defense. (1500/1200)

"You will pay for that, Pharaoh!" Grimo snarled, drawing a card. "I'll increase my hand with Pot of Greed!"

A green, grinning pot appeared, expelling two cards. Grimo caught them, expanding his hand into three. He snarled, not liking what he found in his hand.

"I'll play Big Shield Gardna in Defense Mode, and three cards face-down."

A warrior with black shaggy hair down to his waist, wielding a giant shield appeared as well as three face-down cards. (100/2600) → (600/2600)

"You're just running scared," Max grinned, drawing a card. "And now, let me show you Magical Exemplar's special ability!"

A myriad of Spell Counters hovered over Magical Exemplar's head as she began to chant a spell. (SC: 8)

"Wait, hold on!" said Tristan, noticing how Magical Exemplar raised her hands over her head. "How did your monster get so many Spell Counter thingies?"

"Whenever a Spell Card is played, Magical Exemplar gets two Spell Counters!" Max answered. "And I can give up any number of them equal to the level of a Spellcaster I want to summon on the field from my hand or deck. So now, I'll give up six Spell Counters to summon Chaos Command Magician!"

Six Spell Counters collided as a green sorcerer, that resembled the Dark Magician in appearance, materialized. He pointed his green scepter toward Grimo. (2400/1900)

"Then, I'll place Defender, the Magical Knight in Attack Mode."

Defender stood up, dagger ready as he nodded to his fellow Spellcasters.

"And now we all attack!" Max cried. "Silent Magician LV 8, attack Big Shield Gardna with Silent Light's Burst!"

Silent Magician LV 8 raised her wand into the air, unleashing a large orb of light energy that disintegrated the shield-wielding warrior.

"Everyone else, go on the offensive!"

Defender the Magical Knight was first, charging toward Grimo with dagger in hand. Grimo smirked.

"I'll activate first face-down card!" he cried. "Magic Cylinder!"

A Trap Card depicting two cylinders appeared. Then, two cylinders that matched the Trap Card emerged. Defender the Magical Knight was sucked into one.

"Oh no!" said Yami. "Max, your attack will now go back to you!"

"WHAT?!" Max looked as Defender was thrown toward the boy. Max blocked the attack with his Duel Disk, grunting at the shock of electricity that he felt.

**(Grimo: 5000) - (Yami: 800)(Max: 2400)**

"Well, I won't back down," Max panted. "Maiden of the Macabre, you try now!"

The scythe wielding geisha rushed toward Grimo, the blade of her deadly weapon ready to slice through the opponent. Grimo grinned once more.

"I activate my _second_ Magic Cylinder!" he cried. "So now, say goodbye to even _more_ of your Life Points!"

Max prepared his Duel Disk once more as he was hit by a returning Maiden of the Macabre's attack. The geisha looked sorry as she stepped onto the field, all while Max panted for breath.

**(Grimo: 5000) - (Yami: 800)(Max: 700)**

"Are you alright?" asked Yami, seeing the boy in pain.

"I'll live," Max answered, nodding his head. "But I still have two more monsters that can attack! Chaos Command Magician and Magical Exemplar, it's your turn!"

The two magicians nodded their heads as Chaos Command Magician unleashed a beam of rainbow energy at Grimo.

"I'll summon more troops to my side of the field!" Grimo cried. "I activate Shield Wall!"

Four stone soldiers materialized onto the field, their stone shields protecting them from harm while in Defense Mode. (1000/1000) → (1500/1000) Two of them were quickly destroyed by the magicians all while Magical Exemplar had four Spell Counters on her.

"I'm ending my turn," said Max, seeing that he only had one card left in his hand. "Yugi, finish him off!"

"Right," said Yami, drawing his card. "I'll start by activating Magical Academy!"

A Spell Card appeared, depicting three people in black robes looking into a crystal ball. Gazelle roared as it vanished from the field.

"By discarding two cards in my hand, I can summon a Spellcaster onto the field," Yami explained. "And that monster would be Dark Magician Girl!"

In myriad of hearts, a girl wearing a blue leotard and matching gauntlets, boots and helmet with pink lining, materialized. Max felt like blushing as the blond-haired girl giggled and posed with her staff in hand. (2000/1700) → (2500/1700)

"She's really pretty!" he said, eyes wide.

"_Why thank you, Prince of Wisdom." _Dark Magician Girl replied, blowing a kiss. Max nearly collapsed out of being so lovestruck, if he didn't shake his head when he noticed that he heard the Dark Magician Girl talk to him. But that was impossible—Duel Monsters don't talk.

"And then, I'll place one card," Yami inserted a card into the Spell/Trap Card Zones. "Your move."

"That shall be your very last!" Grimo snarled, drawing a card. "I play Card of Demise."

A Spell Card emerged, depicting a deck of cards about to be cut through a guillotine.

"This allows me to draw until I have five cards, but I must discard my entire hand once four turns pass," Grimo explained. "But I'm not done—I activate Spell Reproduction, discarding two cards to bring back a Spell Card in my graveyard!"

"Not good," Max whispered. "He'll use Card of Sanctity so he can get even more cards. Just what is he planning?"

"I don't know," Yami answered, seeing Grimo discard two cards to the graveyard. "But at the very least, we'll obtain something in the process."

"I play Card of Sanctity once more!" Grimo cried, as coins showered everywhere. "So let us deal with new hands."

Grimo drew until he had 3 more cards, Max had five more, and Yami four more. The Spirit of the Millennium Puzzle smiled.

"Thanks to Card of Sanctity, I can play Watapon in Defense Mode!" he announced.

A white fuzzy puffball with big eyes and antenna materialized. (300/200) Dark Magician Girl picked it up and snuggled it.

"Wow!" said Max. "A monster you play when you draw outside normal drawing phases? I'm gonna get me a card like that!"

"If that's your idea of summoning monsters, you're mistaken," said Grimo. "I play a Spell Card known as Bronze Warriors, and with every card I send to the graveyard I get one more token."

Grimo discarded three cards to the graveyard, as three knights appeared, swords in hand behind the remaining Shield Tokens. (500/500 x3) → (1000/500 x3)

"Wait a minute!" said Joey, noticing something was wrong. "The Duel Handbook clearly states that a person can only have five monsters on the field at any given time!"

"Guess like your handbook's outdated," Raphael replied. "The Seal doubles the amount of monsters its user is allowed to have on the field."

"Wait, that means he can have up to ten monsters at a time!" Max gasped.

"And that means you can't go through my back row monsters until you get through my front row defenses!" Grimo cackled. "You'll find yourselves defeated by my personal army!"

"You talk a lot," Max noted.

"I'm not done yet," Grimo continued. "I play my A. Forces Spell Card, to increase the attack points of all Warriors on my side of the field times 200!"

The Bronze Warriors raised their swords in the air, as their attack points each read 1600.

"And I'm not finished! I play Warrior Dai Grepher in Attack Mode, and his Attack Score will now increase by 1300 points!"

A blue-haired warrior wielding a sword and dressed in black leather armor appeared, eyes glowing red through the power of the Orichalcos. (1700/1600) → (3000/1600)

"That's...still not threatening," Max gulped. "What else can you put out?"

"Didn't the Pharaoh mentioned something about 'strength in numbers?'" Grimo questioned. "Well, I suppose I'll have to show you myself! Warrior Dai Grepher, destroy Dark Magician Girl with Gryphon Slash!"

Warrior Dai Grepher leapt to the air, sword ready to cleave Dark Magician Girl in half.

"Activate Trap Card, Magician's Selection!" Yami exclaimed. The Trap Card flipped over, depicting Dark Magician creating a blue barrier of runes. "Your Warrior Dai Grepher's attack is negated, and I can destroy a monster you control with the least number of Attack Points, so I choose to destroy one of your Shield Tokens."

The blue barrier was erected and shielded Dark Magician Girl, while a bolt of lightning struck a Shield Token, causing it to crumble.

"All right!" said Max. "Now that beefed-up warrior can't attack until Grimo's next turn. By then, it'll all be over!"

"Not yet it isn't!" Grimo growled. "Bronze Tokens, destroy his Spellcasters with Medieval Slash!"

The trio of Bronze Knights rose to the air, swords ready to behead the monsters. Max smiled.

"Defender, give up two of Magical Exemplar's Spell Counters and your own to save yourselves!"

Defender smiled, beckoning to three Spell Counters and hurled them toward the Bronze Tokens, causing them to fly back. Magical Exemplar smiled. (Magical Exemplar SC: 16 → 14, Defender SC: 1 → 0)

"What?!" Grimo yelled. "But...your Defender only has one Spell Counter..."

"While he can only hold one, Magical Exemplar has no limit!" Max smirked. "And Defender draws on _**all**_ sources of Spell Counters to protect every Spellcaster about to be destroyed in battle. Since you played all those Spell Cards to get more cards, you just gave Magical Exemplar even more power!"

"Ooooooooh...he got played by a little kid!" Valon replied, laughing. "That has _got_ to be humiliating!"

"Oh well," said Raphael. "Looks like he dug his own grave. Nice knowing him."

"And since you have no more cards," Max smiled. "Then it means it was nice knowing you! I'll skip my Draw Phase so I can bring back Magical Blast from the graveyard!"

A card popped out of the graveyard, and Max took it into his hands.

"Then I'll sacrifice Defender, the Magical Knight for Dark Red Enchanter!"

Defender nodded his head as he was replaced by a magician in red robes and wearing a golden horned helm, exposing some dark blond bangs. On his shoulders were golden shoulder pads with an orange orb inset in each. In his hand was a crescent scepter with a red orb in the middle, connected by thin gold rods. (1700/2200)

"And when Dark Red Enchanter is summoned, he gains two Spell Counters! Plus for every Spell Counter on him, he gains 300 Attack Points!"

Dark Red Enchanter summoned two orbs of light that began to encircle him. (1700/2200) → (2300/2200)

"Now that _**I**_ have strength in numbers, it's time for me to end this!" Max exclaimed. "First, I activate Magical Blast!"

The Spell Card appeared once more. Dark Red Enchanter's strength was at 2600, while Magical Exemplar had 18 Spell Counters on her.

"So now," Max pumped his arms in the air. "Say goodbye to another thousand Life Points!"

Grimo began to sweat as the five Spellcasters fired orbs of magic at his body, causing him to gasp for breath.

**(Grimo: 4000) - (Yami: 800)(Max: 700)**

"All right!" said Tristan. "That brought him down to half of his original score!"

"Indeed," Max nodded his head. "Now let's see what we can do now! Everyone..." He took a deep breath and then yelled at the top of his lungs, "ATTACKKKKKKKK!"

Maiden of the Macabre sliced the last Shield Token into rubble, while Chaos Command Magician and Dark Red Enchanter took care of two Bronze tokens.

**(Grimo: 4000 → 3400 → 2400)**

Magical Exemplar took care of the last Bronze Token with an orb of light to the chest, the warrior exploding.

**(Grimo: 2400 → 2100)**

"Now Silent Magician!" said Max, pointing to the lone Warrior Dai Grepher who now had 2400 Attack Points. "Destroy him with SILENT LIGHT'S BLAST!"

Silent Magician LV 8 smiled as she raised her staff to the air, then she brought it down, unleashing a stream of magic that caused the warrior to scream before being destroyed and leaving Grimo defenseless.

**(Grimo: 1100) - (Yami: 800)(Max: 700)**

"And would you look at that?" Max said as he looked at Grimo's side of the field. "You have no more monsters, and no more cards in hand. I guess I'll end my turn and let Yugi end this. What do you say?"

"No...please..." Grimo trembled as he looked into Yami's eyes. "I beg you, please spare me."

"You brought this on yourself," Yami snarled, drawing his card. "And remember that I gave you that chance to walk away...and you refused."

As he turned to Dark Magician Girl, for a slight moment, it seemed that his expression darkened. Max could easily see the resemblance to Atem in Yami in the pose and the look on his face and wondered about just what the spirit knew about himself...or what he didn't know for that matter.

"Dark Magician Girl," said Yami, pointing at Grimo. "End this duel with Dark Burning Blast!"

Dark Magician Girl's staff crackled with pink energy as she hurled it at Grimo. The Orichalcos duelist screamed in terror as his Life Points reached zero.

**(Grimo: 0) - (Yami: 800)(Max: 700)**

"We did it, we did it, WE DID IT!" Max screamed, letting out a roar of accomplishment to the night sky. The Seal of Orichalcos began to shrink and encase Grimo. "And now, hand Obelisk and all Egyptian God Cards you own!"

"NEVER! Their power belongs to us!" Grimo pulled out Obelisk the Tormentor and flung it toward Raphael, who easily caught it with two fingers. Grimo looked all around him as the Seal began to glow bright, unleashing a scream before he collapsed as if dead.

"Oh well," Raphael shrugged his shoulders. "Guess he wasn't as good as he thought."

"The old man was cramping our style, anyway," Alister commented.

"And besides," Valon added. "We now know more about Yugi's dueling strategy, and the fact he needs a little whelp like that boy to save his ass from a major-"

"Guys! Over here!"

Everyone turned to see May levitating in the air. Shuppet was glowing with a blue aura as the Pokémon Coordinator waved a hello.

"May, you made it!" Max exclaimed, seeing his sister all right. "You escaped!"

"How's everyone doing?" asked May. "We...oh no!" She looked up, seeing the clouds above her illuminated with swirling green light. "Is that from the Seal of Orichalcos?"

"Wait, you _know_ what that thing is?" asked Joey.

"Of course I do!" May answered, descending toward the ground. "I just defeated this guy named Bandit Keith who used it against me. Then he lost his soul to it!"

"How the hell did she survive that duel?!" Alister exclaimed, seeing the blue Pokémon Coordinator approaching her brother. The Petalburgh siblings shared a hug. "Bandit Keith was a former Duel Monsters Champion!"

"Whether he was a former Duel Monsters Champion or not, I defeated him!" May exclaimed, staring at the motorcyclists and bringing out a Poké ball from her waist pack. "Now let me introduce you three to a good friend of mine! Go, Blaziken!"

The Blaze Pokémon appeared with a mighty roar. May climbed onto its back, and Blaziken ran toward the unfinished structure of the building where the Swordsman stood. May grinned, arms raised into the air as Blaziken jumped at least twenty feet into the air.

"WHOO-HOO!" she cried.

"What the?!" Joey screamed when he saw May's fully evolved Starter Pokémon jump. "What the heck is that thing?!"

"Blaziken, the Blaze Pokémon," Max stated to the blonde duelist, quoting from the Pokédex. "Due to its powerful legs, it can jump over a ten story building, so that scaffolding is nothing for it."

"But doesn't that seem dangerous?!" Téa asked, seeing May grasping onto the Pokémon. Compared to the dancer, the Pokémon Coordinator showed no ounce of fear at facing guys who were more than twice her age. In fact, she seemed _elated_ in doing so.

"Téa, they stopped a rampaging Duel Monster with a little ghost," Tristan replied. "I don't think it's strange to see that thing jump."

"I'm joining the fight too, May!" said Max, bringing out a Poké ball. "Go Vigoroth, help me out here!"

The ball opened to reveal Vigoroth, who pounded his chest with a mighty roar. Max climbed onto the Wild Ape Pokémon's back as he began to climb the side of the scaffolding. The motorcyclists stepped back when they saw Blaziken land in front of them. May got off and pointed a finger at them, making sure she didn't look down else suffer from a severe case of acrophobia.

"What do you have to say for yourself?" she asked. "You're going to give us the Egyptian God Cards or else Max and I will have to pry them out of your cold, dead hands!"

Vigoroth used its powerful claws to grab onto Valon's legs. The biker didn't have time to react as Max leapt off of Vigoroth and joined his sister's side, another Poké ball in hand.

"Get this thing off of me!" Valon cried, trying to pry away from the grip on his ankle. Vigoroth snarled as it tightened its grip, its black claws ready to shred the enemy into pieces before performing a forward flip to land on the metal beam with ease.

"You want these?" asked Raphael, pulling out the Egyptian God Cards from his jacket. "Then I guess you'll have to get them from our cold, dead hands."

"Then let's do that!" said Max, pointing a finger at the Swordsman. "BRING IT ON!"

**0-0-0-0-0**

**May: So much action! So much suspense! It hasn't even been a whole day yet!**

**Max: I know. I'm getting an adrenaline rush just thinking about it.**

**May: Still, we just won a few battle...a war is coming.**

**Max: Who cares? We're going to fight tonight and that's all that matters. Ready May?**

**May: Always!**

**Max: Next time, "Between my Brother and Me - De Novo" Chapter 4.5: Gemini Booster**

**May: I'm too energized to sleep right now. I wanna punch the moon so badly!**

**Max: Ditto!**


	6. IV-2: Gemini Booster

**Between My Brother and Me**

**4.5: Gemini Booster**

"_Outstanding leaders go out of their way to boost the self-esteem of their personnel. If people believe in themselves, it's amazing what they can accomplish."_

_-Sam Walton_

"Vigoroth, attack them with your Fury Swipes!" Max commanded.

"VIGOROTH!" Vigoroth roared, its claws glowing white. It charged toward Alister, who blocked the attack with his Duel Disk. Vigoroth tried again, this time slashing through the sleeves of the red-haired biker's coat. There was some silence, but it long enough for Alister to glimpse at the three marks on the sleeve before staring at Vigoroth in rage.

"That...was my **favorite coat**!" Alister screamed, and it looked like his eyes were burning with anger. In fact, he _was_ burning in anger. Grinding his teeth, he thrust his hands out and they both became encased with fire! Everyone else looked in shock..well not everyone else, as Valon and Raphael were too busy with their opponents, but still..

"H...how is he doing that?" May exclaimed.

Alister snarled, trying to punch his opponent, only for Vigoroth to roll out of the way and land another slash to the sleeve, which only caused Alister to become even more infuriated. "Stay still, will you?!"

While Alister attempted to land an incinerating punch on the Wild Monkey Pokémon, Valon was going head to head with Blaziken, blocking and parrying with kicks and punches. The Blaze Pokémon countered with its own, determined to protect its Pokémon Trainer from this threat.

"You're not going to get in our way!" Valon snarled, his arm wrapped in a yellow aura. "I'll make sure of that!" May's response was to smile.

"Blaziken, use Mega Kick!" she said. "Knock them all down!"

Blaziken responded with one of its legs glowing blue. It then swung its leg, attacking Valon and pushing him onto Alister, both of them falling onto the wooden boards with a thud. Now it was only Raphael, May with Blaziken, and Max with Vigoroth.

"You two have some nerve some nerve doing that," Raphael growled, placing the Egyptian God Cards back into his coat.

"We have nerve, a pinch of luck, and a whole lot of determination to kick your butts!" May replied with confidence. "Now Blaziken, get him with Sky Uppercut!"

"Blaziken!" It replied, its right fist glowing in a bright blue color. It then charged up to the blonde motorcyclist, intending on punching him in the face...

Only to miss when Raphael sidestepped the attack. Blaziken tried to replicate the Fighting-type move, but was interrupted with the powerful roundhouse kick that Raphael gave it, causing it to collapse and have swirls for eyes.

"Oh, no! Blaziken!" May gasped. She immediately recalled it into its Poké ball before Raphael charged toward her. May began to step back, her feet careful not to slip on the narrow steel beams she stood on, ducking any attempt Raphael had to punch her lights out.

"She's gonna fall!" said Tristan. "We have to get up there somehow!"

Just as Raphael was going to leap over her, May's vision changed. For that moment, she saw a glimpse of a desert with Raphael—or at least someone who looked like him—tackling her. May bent back as Raphael charged at her, her hands landing on the base of the steel beam, and the Coordinator sighing on how the beam was wide to support her body like that. She dropped to her back and rolled to her stomach, seeing Raphael turn around.

"You will suffer for this, little girl," he growled, pulling out a knife hidden in his boot. May narrowed her eyes as she rose to her knees and pulled out another Poké ball, tossing it in the air. Beautifly emerged, flapping its wings.

"What's that going to do? Pollinate my garden?" Raphael spat out.

"It'll do more than that," May replied. "Beautifly, use Silver Wind!"

"Beautifly!" The Beautiful Pokémon cried, flapping its wings and firing crescents of light at Raphael. Raphael sliced through the attacks with his knife as he kept charging toward May. May bent down, arms out to protect her as Raphael brought the knife down. May spun out of the way, until the two were on opposite sides once more. May then rushed toward him, hitting him in the stomach with a right hook, but it only caused Raphael to be pushed back a centimeter or so.

"Beautifly, use Aerial Ace!" she cried.

"Beautifly!" Beautifly raced toward Raphael, leaving a trail of white streaks behind it and slammed straight into Raphael's gut. The blond biker staggered a bit, hand on his stomach and the other hand on his knife.

"You are testing my patience!" he snarled, eyes glowing. "I will crush you!"

"May!" cried Max, turning to his sister. "Hold on, I'll save you! Vigoroth, Crush Claw!"

Vigoroth's claws began to glow white once more as it flipped into the air and charged toward Raphael. Raphael delivered a punch that knocked Vigoroth back toward May, causing them to fall on their backs. Max was knocked toward the edge of the scaffolding, only saved by Vigoroth grabbing onto his hand in time and hurling him back to the steel beam.

"Get away from my sister!" The boy cried, preparing to shoulder tackle Raphael. "I MEAN IT!"

Just as Max was a few inches away from his attack, Raphael smirked and held Max away by placing a hand on his head. As if anticipating this, Max swiped the arm that held his Duel Disk at Raphael to separate them a bit. Unfortunately, this was all for naught as Raphael kicked Max in the stomach and using his foot to push him off, causing him to fall. Beautifly flew toward Max, using Psychic to levitate him from falling to his doom.

"MAX!" May cried, seeing her brother. "Hold on, I'll—GAH!"

May turned, seeing Raphael pulling her up by grabbing her left wrist. May snarled, eyes narrowed as she was ready to whack him across the face with the Duel Disk and make a quick exit. Unfortunately, Raphael anticipated that, placing a knife close to her neck.

"Who are you?" Raphael growled. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm May, daughter of Norman, the Gym Leader of Petalburgh City," May answered, struggling to not look at the rooftop below her feet. "I don't know why you're asking me this question, but I'm not letting you use those Egyptian God Cards for evil! You're going down!"

"On the contrary, it's _you _who's going down." Raphael smirked as he dropped May off of the steel beam, along with hurling the Wild Monkey Pokémon off with his foot.

"Good riddance," he spat out. "Little punks."

"MAY!" Max cried, quickly pulling out a Poké ball. "Shuppet, use Psychic!"

Shuppet appeared, its eyes glowing blue as a blue outline surrounded Vigoroth while May's Beautifly did the same with Max.. Unfortunately, they could not use Psychic on May, so she kept falling. May could see her life flashing before her eyes...and for a moment, she thought she saw Atem clasping her hand, albeit it was a bit smaller.

It couldn't have been possible though, she had told herself. They had only met last night….

Suddenly, a streak of white flew toward her, letting out a powerful cry as it began to reach the Petalburgh siblings.

"SWABLU!" The voice cried. May looked up to see a little Swablu began to glow in a bright light. Its body began to change. It began to grow a neck and its white wings grew larger. Small blue feet were seen as the light dispersed. The new Pokémon had white cheeks and two feathers sticking out of its head along with a couple of long, blue tail feathers.

"It's evolving!" said May. "No way!"

"ALTARIA!" The Pokémon cried, flying faster. "ALTARIA!"

"That's an Altaria!" Max gasped as the Humming Pokémon swiftly caught May and Vigoroth on its back before landing on the ground. It nuzzled May lovingly before giving a friendly chirp. Vigoroth sighed in relief as he and Max descended thanks to Beautifly and Shuppet.

"Thank you so much!" May replied, giving Altaria a kiss on the cheek. "But...you look familiar. Do I know you?"

"Al!" Altaria cried. "Al-Altaria! Altaria!" It flapped its wings as if struggling to fly before doing a loop-de-loop and landing gracefully near May's feet.

May stared into the Pokémon's eyes, trying to recall where she had seen it. Then...a memory of a Swablu with its wings wrapped in bandages, and how she used flour to help it fly...and when she had to let it go...they all came back to her...

"Swablu? Is that you?" Altaria nodded its head, nuzzling against the Pokémon Coordinator once more. "I can't believe it! You came back!" May wrapped her arms around the Dragon/Flying Pokémon, tears forming in her eyes.

"That's so sweet," said Joey, sniffling a bit. "It's just so nice when best friends are reunited."

"Oh, please," Max replied to the statement. "You don't even know what type of Pokémon it is."

Alister and Valon soon sat up, rubbing their stomachs and moaning in pain.

"What hit me?" Alister muttered. "It was if I got hit by a truck."

"Or perhaps a giant chicken," Valon suggested. He looked down to see Yami staring at the three motorcyclists, along with May and Max completely unharmed and hugging Altaria. "Great...we missed the whole show."

"But, we know how the Pharaoh duels now," Raphael replied to his bitter partners. "After all, it was Grerimo's fault. Now let's go."

Just as they were about to walk off, they were interrupted with someone yelling at them.

"Hold it!" May shouted. The three motorcyclists turning to see the Pokémon Coordinator talking to them. "Give Yugi those cards back right NOW!"

Raphael just smirked all while May began to stomp her feet in anger.

"Sorry, little missy," he said. "But if you were here when it happened, then you would've known that the Pharaoh has to defeat _**all**_ of us, not just one of us." May snarled."But, here's a consolation prize..."

He brought out two cards from his coat pocket while the stone around his neck began to glow. Two orbs materialized near the palm of his hand. He then moved his hand away from his chest, causing the green orbs to fly amongst the bright lights of Domino City.

"What's going on, Max?" asked May. "What are those lights?

"Remember those two duelists who told us about the 'Age of Destruction?" asked Max. May nodded her head in reply. "Well, their souls were taken by the Orichalcos, and now this Raphael person is returning their souls into their bodies."

"That's scary..." May whispered, shuddering a bit. "That they can control that Seal of Orichalcos like that..."

"Enjoy your gift," Raphael replied, but not before Joey answered back saying, "I'll give you a gift! Just come down and get it!"

May brought out another Poké ball, ready to use it if necessary.

"Yeah!" she added. "Come down here and get your present! It's a gift that I like to call 'Just Desserts'!"

Valon laughed. "Isn't that girl so cute?" he sneered. "If she were much older, I'd like to date her."

"Why you little-" May muttered, smoke nearly coming out of her ears. "The next time I see you, I'll make sure Blaziken burns you to a crisp after I tell it to give you two Mega Kicks and three Sky Uppercuts!"

"Al! Al!" Altaria replied, anger shown on its face. May giggled at how it flapped its wings.

"Thanks for the support, Altaria," she said, hugging the Humming Pokémon. "By the way...where's the rest of your family?"

"That's right," said Max. "Where are they?"

As if to respond, a flock of Swablu and Altaria soon came into view, chirping their names. They circled around the brothers and sisters, causing the Petalburgh siblings to look in awe.

"Wait a second," said Téa, pointing to a Swablu. "I saw you this morning! I did think it was weird to see a bird with white cotton wings, though."

The Swablu and Altaria fluttered near Joey and Tristan, chirping their names. A Swablu perched on top of their heads, covering their faces with their cottony wings to look like they were hats.

"Well," Joey muttered to himself. "I wonder what Serenity would think about them."

"Say..." Tristan replied, taking a Swablu into his hands. "If I gave one of you to Serenity, maybe she'd-" He never got to finish as Joey hurled his Swablu toward Tristan to peck his eyes out.

"Wait a minute..." May asked, staring at the Altaria near her. "Are you sure it's alright that you want to stay with me? I mean, you have a family and all with the flock..."

"Al! Al!" Altaria replied. "Al-Altaria! Al!"

"What? You wanted to stay with me to begin with?" asked May in shock. "And you're saying that you missed me?" Altaria nodded its head. May could only smile as she pulled out a spare Poké ball.

"Then who am I to say 'No'?" May replied, tossing the small sphere into the air. "Go, Poké ball!"

"Al!" Altaria said simply as the Poké ball tapped it lightly on the head. The sphere opened as Altaria became a red beam that soon got sucked in. The red lid of the ball closed as the Poké ball began to shake. Then with a 'beep', Altaria was captured.

"All right!" May cried picking up the Poké ball. "I've just caught an Altaria!" The Swablu and Altaria around her echoed the cry.

Meanwhile, Yami walked near the fallen body of Grerimo. He soon picked up a fallen card and muttered, "I was right."

"What do you mean by that?" asked Tristan, holding onto two Swablus in his hands. Yami then showed his friends the Seal of Orichalcos, except that now it showed the panicked look of Grerimo staring at them.

"When he lost our duel, his soul was trapped in this card," Yami answered. "But where did that power come from?" Téa looked and saw a shiny stone on a chain.

"Take a look at this!" she replied, showing Yami the necklace. "It was around that guy's neck. Maybe it has to do with all of this..."

"Well, whatever it is...it can wait," said Joey, stifling a yawn. "I need sleep."

"Me, too," said Max. Vigoroth and Shuppet also yawned as Max brought out their Poké balls.

"Take a good rest, you two. You deserve it." Vigoroth and Shuppet nodded their heads before returning into their Poké balls.

"Hey Max," said May, pulling out the necklace she found earlier. "Can you hold onto this for me? It was on Bandit Keith's neck when I dueled him."

"Wait a minute!" Tristan said in shock. "_**You**_ had a duel?"

"It's a long story," May explained. "And you might not want to hear it..."

**0-0-0-0-0**

The Altaria and Swablu flock didn't mind giving Yugi and his friends some help descending to the ground while May and Max rode May's own Altaria, who then waved goodbye to its brethren. The Altaria and Swablu chirped before heading south (or maybe it was East? Max couldn't tell for sure), leaving behind a chorus of chirps as they vanished into the night sky. There were hellos and goodbyes as everyone returned home for the night, wanting to forget just what had happened hours ago and get some sleep.

"What a day..." May sighed, placing her hands behind her head. She and Max stayed silent as the two walked toward the Game Shop. "Ancient spirits, real life Duel Monsters, Egyptian Gods, bikers, Atlantis..."

"It makes our adventures with Ash seem like mere child's play," Max noted, arms crossed against his chest. "I bet he's going through Team Rocket's crazy disguises and all that."

"If we ever see them again, they'd probably flip over our Duel Monsters…" May giggled. "And now...wait, it's quiet."

"Of course it's quiet, May. No one's going to be out and about after those giant Duel Monsters rampaged throughout the city."

"No, I mean...I think someone's watching us."

Altaria tilted its head in confusion as the three made it near the Domino City Museum. It was deserted, without a single street lamp on to help spread a little comfort in the darkness. The wind caused the trees to rustle, as if whispering warnings for May and Max to be very careful.

"Who could be after us...?" Max gulped. He looked around and cupped his hands. "Hey, Dark Magician Girl! If you're here, come out and say something! I heard your voice back at that duel, didn't I? Hello?"

There was no response. The siblings held onto each other as they looked all around them, the hairs on the back of their necks standing up.

"Show yourself..." May stammered. "Come on...you better do it now! We're...we're not scared of you!" But even as she said that, she could feel a dark presence coming closer and closer toward them.

Altaria looked all around and saw a silhouette looming over it. It turned around and screamed, "ALTARIA!"

May and Max turned, seeing a dark shadowy figure rising from the ground, with black wings notched with horns and each marked with the design of an eye that seemed to stare into their very souls, and a scythe in hand to give an image of a demon sending them to the deepest bowels of Hell. The two screamed in terror.

"Who are you?" asked May, preparing her Duel Disk. "What do you want with us?"

The figure's wings retracted and the shadows dispersed, revealing a man in a white tunic, wielding his scythe. He had long red hair that fell to his waist and fierce grey eyes, along with a golden tag worn on a piece of string around his neck. On his head was a crown of a large red circle cradled by a black crescent.

"You're that red biker guy!" said Max. "What...what are you doing here?"

The man tilted his head in confusion as he took a step forward. Max took a step back, while May pulled out a Poké ball, pressing the button in the center to enlarge it. The person took another step forward.

"Eevee!" said May. "Attack him with Shadow-"

The man somehow materialized by her side before she could finish that sentence, placing a finger on her lips. May stayed quiet as the two stared into each other's eyes. Max stayed silent, and Altaria flapped its wings to prepare an attack. After some silence, the man stepped back.

"You have her eyes..." he whispered, wings outstretched. His voice was a bit scratchy, as if he was not used to speaking much.

"T...thank you?" May stammered. "Who are you?"

"My name is of no concern at this point," The man closed his eyes, turning away.

"Well it should—I think it'd be nice if we all introduced ourselves. I'm May," May bowed toward the stranger. "And the boy to my right is my little brother, Max." Max just waved his hand. "What's your name?"

"My name is Aliastro," the man answered, opening his eyes. He still kept his back toward the Petalburgh siblings. "I am the loyal guard to the Vessel of the Moon God, Khonsu. I have waited five millennia to see him again, but we cannot meet under those circumstances."

"Why not?" Max folded his arms across his chest. "And what's a Vessel?"

"I can't divulge in that information until much later," said Aliastro. "But I came to tell you that while you have both survived your first trial against the Orichalcos, there will more battles like that to come. Your arrival was not coincidence, it was fate."

"Then was it fate that we were nearly killed from falling from a very tall building?" asked May.

"You were reunited with a dear friend, were you not?" Aliastro turned to Altaria and approached it. Altaria trembled as Aliastro stroked its head. After a few seconds, Altaria calmed down and gave a friendly chirp while Aliastro smiled. "See? Good has come from this meeting."

"All right then..." May placed the Poké ball away. "So Aliastro, do you know anything about Manaphy or Jirachi?"

"No...I don't," Aliastro turned around. "But, you will learn your answers soon enough. I wish I was able to say more, but I must head off. My King needs me."

"Okay then," May shrugged her shoulders. "Also...about that name tag..."

"It's a cartouche."

"Yes, that. The hieroglyphics on it says 'Moka'...were they someone important to you?"

Max blinked as Aliastro stared at the cartouche on his neck. A tear fell down his eye as he clutched the cartouche with a trembling hand. May blinked and shook her head.

"I'm so sorry...I didn't know it was that personal," she bowed toward him. "P...please forgive me, sir!"

"No, it's fine..." Aliastro wiped the tear away before it had a chance to fall. "I shall be running late if I do not return soon. Please, stay safe until the Vessel of the Moon God finds you."

"But how do we know when that will be?" said Max. "We don't even know what he looks like!"

"Search within you for your answers..." Aliastro leapt into the air, his wings flapping to help him stay afloat. He smiled sadly at the siblings. "You will find the truth there."

May and Max watched the strange winged messenger fly into the night sky, neither of them saying anything during their trip back to the Game Shop where they settled down and slept in their beds. Shuppet rested above Max's head, hoping to feed off of his worry and fears. Neither of them said anything, too exhausted from the day's events to say anything. But after a few minutes of nothing more but the two of them breathing, and the sound of a clock counting the seconds, they spoke.

"Good night," May and Max said to each other, before they closed their eyes and found themselves falling into a dreamless sleep.

**0-0-0-0-0**

The next day, right after Yugi and his friends got out of school, May and Max met up with them at the Domino Park, having spent their time in the Game Shop looking at card catalogues and tending to their Pokémon while waiting for further updates regarding the real life monster sightings. The two arrived in time to see Joey and Tristan grabbing onto Weevil and Rex's shirt collars, both of them suspended in the air.

"Get your hands off of me, you Sasquatch!" Weevil cried. May and Max looked in confusion at what was going on.

"Yeah, don't make me go all ninja on your butt!" Rex added.

"What's going on here?" asked Max, looking at Yugi and the others.

"We're trying to see if we can shake some information out of these dweebs," Joey replied. "I say we see how far we can throw them!"

"Or...let's see how many times we can pound them before they squeal," Tristan suggested. "I've always wanted my own personal punching bag."

"I have a non-violent suggestion," Max replied raising the Poké ball into the air. "Go, Shuppet!"

The Poké ball opened, revealing the Ghost Pokémon grinning happily when it saw its surroundings.

"What the heck is that thing?" Rex asked, pointing to the Puppet Pokémon. "Some type of wind chime reject?"

"Oh, you'll see," said May, winking at her brother. Both of them covered their ears with their hands, confusing everyone else.

"Shuppet, use Screech!" Max yelled. Shuppet inhaled as much air as it could taken and then...

"SHUPPET! SHUP SHUPPET!" It screeched, causing the six teenagers to scream in pain.

"This noise is hurting my ears!" Téa moaned, trying her best to block the attack.

"What the heck?!" Joey screamed. "What's with this thing?!"

"Okay, okay!" Weevil yelled amongst the noise. "We'll talk, we'll talk! Just make it stop!" May and Max grinned.

"You heard them Shuppet, make it stop!" Shuppet heard its Trainer's call and stayed silent, causing Yugi and the others to sigh in relief.

"Now that that's over with, tell us what you did yesterday," said Yugi to both Rex and Weevil.

"First, I woke up and went to the bathroom..." Rex began before Weevil interrupted him by saying, "He means after that!"

The two then gave a hasty explanation about how a cloaked man challenged them to a duel with Rex mentioning about Weevil being squashed like a cockroach—Weevil barked back that Rex was holding him back—and then mentioned something amongst the lines of the Seal of Orichalcos.

"And I thought it was one of those weird knock-off cards." Rex commented.

"So that man didn't mention anything about a plan to steal the Egyptian God Cards?" Max asked before May covered his mouth.

"Not so loud!" The Pokémon Coordinator hissed. "Everyone is itching for those cards, and you just blabbed to them about what happened!"

"Sorry," Max mumbled.

"What, they're gone?!" Rex exclaimed.

"He took them...well, he and his gang of thugs did," Yugi mentioned. "But for what reason, I don't know yet."

"Seriously?!" Weevil replied in shock while everyone else nodded their heads in reply.

"There's no need to worry, though!" said Max, as Shuppet levitated around him. "As long as we have the King of Games here, then we'll get them back just as easily as we get Pikachu back from Team Rocket! I mean, that whole duel was so awesome! I was right there with him and we were just kicking Grimo around like it was nothing!"

"Pikachu?" Joey repeated.

"Team Rocket?" Tristan also repeated.

"It's...a long, long story," May replied as the six left Weevil and Rex alone. "You see, it all started when our friend Ash..."

Weevil and Rex laughed as the group vanished, the thoughts of having the Egyptian God Cards clinging into their minds.

"Soon, they'll be all mine!" They said simultaneously. Hearing what they had said, they stared at each other, then immediately looked away.

**0-0-0-0-0**

"First, things got freaky at the museum," Tristan said out loud while the group walked down the strip of sidewalk. "Then monsters started appearing all over the world, and now a group of bikers are stealing people's souls with a Duel Monsters card! I mean, I can't make heads or tails of it all!"

"I'm thinking that they're all related to one another," said Téa in reply to Tristan's theory. "I mean they have to be at this point."

"It's hard to believe, but Téa's got a point," May added. "I mean, the way Bandit Keith looked when he lost the duel...it was so scary when I dueled him last night," The mentioning of the name caused Yugi, Téa, Joey and Tristan to flinch. "What?" she asked. "Do you guys know him?"

"That scumbag!" Joey muttered, hand clenched into a fist. "That guy nearly defeated me by cheating! But I showed him back at Duelist Kingdom!"

"Well, I'll have you know that if it wasn't for some lucky draws on my part, I would've been destroyed by him," May added. "But...to see him under the Seal of Orichalcos...it's sort of sad now that you think about it..."

"I hope they guy crawls into a corner and dies for all I care," said Joey. "And why the hell does all this stuff happen to us?! You have to admit that it's true."

"Hey Yugi!" Yugi, who had been silent the whole time, looked up to see a young girl with long blonde hair and pink half-glasses run up to him. She also wore a blue-green plaid skirt, white socks, brown shoes, a white blouse, pink jacket and green necktie as she hugged the King of Games.

"Um, do you know this person?" May asked Yugi.

"Oh, _no_!" The girl replied, still not letting go of Yugi. "Don't tell me you forgot about me now that you're a big time, Champion duelist!"

"Yugi," asked Téa. "Who is this girl?"

"Let's see, this should ring a bell," The girl replied, bringing out a card. "You _did_ give it to me after all." May and Max peered at the card. It was a girl in a white dress and feathers surrounding her, and in her hands was Duel Monster's card. It looked very well made.

"Rebecca!" Yugi cried, the name clicking in his head as he recalled giving her the card months ago.

"Ah, no!" Joey screamed. "You're that brat!" The image in his mind was her with short pigtails and a teddy bear—a sharp contrast to the girl standing right in front of him.

"Hi." Rebecca stated simply.

"You look different," Joey stated. "Did you change her hair?"

"No," Tristan answered bluntly. "She traded her teddy bear for glasses."

The conversation only caused question marks to float around May and Max. Shuppet flew down and looked at Rebecca interestingly, the young duelist staring in shock.

"Oh my gosh, Yugi!" she cried, hugging the King of Games. "What _**is**_ that thing?! And who are those kids hanging out with you?"

"We're here because we are friends with Yugi," said Max. "And that 'thing' is Shuppet, a very good friend of mine, thank you very much."

"It doesn't matter what that thing is called, as long as I have a boyfriend to protect me from it," Rebecca replied, blowing a raspberry at the Pokémon trainer. Vein marks appeared on both Téa and May at the comment.

"Can I unleash Blaziken's Overheat on her, Max?" May asked her younger brother.

"Nah, it wouldn't be as much fun like what I did to those bikers with Shuppet's Psychic," Max answered back. "Or perhaps we could send her to the mercies of Vigoroth's Crush Claw,

Squirtle's Ice Beam, Munchlax's Solarbeam...the possibilities are endless. Betcha that Mucnhlax's Metronome will unleash a Hyper Beam on her."

"Shuppet?" Shuppet asked, cocking its head to the side.

"And yet _**another**_ weird event to add to the list," said Joey, commenting the situation.

"Yep, and this one tops them all," Tristan added. "I think it's best not to get involved."

"Oh come on Yugi," Rebecca said, while more vein marks appeared on Téa's forehead. "My grandpa also wants to see you!"

"Professor Hawkins wants to see me?" Yugi asked, repeating Rebecca's words. May and Max looked in confusion, tilting their heads to the side.

"Professor Hawkins?" Max asked. "Who's he?" Rebecca turned with anger on her face.

"How could you _**not**_ know who he is?!" she screamed to the young boy. "Professor Arthur Hawkins is the best archaeologist ever, _**and**_ he's my grandpa!"

"Sorry, I didn't know!" Max replied in defense. May sighed as the whole group started to walk toward the Museum.

**0-0-0-0-0**

After returning Shuppet to its Poké ball—the Security guard wouldn't let it in—May and Max made it to the lower levels of the museum. They soon met up with Solomon, and another man who looked just like a professor one would find in a high-ranked university. He was taller than Solomon by about a foot, thin and was wearing a cream tuxedo and pants along with a red bow tie. His grey hair was neatly combed as he smiled at them all.

"Yugi Muto!" Professor Hawkins exclaimed. "You're just the person I needed to see."

"What do you mean by that?" May exclaimed. That was when she stared at the stone tablet, completely frozen in ice. It looked similar to the one from her Pharaoh's Prophecy Ritual Card...except that there wasn't a big chunk missing at the bottom. She walked toward it, placing a hand on the glass. It felt so cold to the touch; then again, it was to be expected.

"See anything?" asked Max, peering close. The tablet depicted a priest and Atem in a duel. Max could see a glyph above the Pharaoh's head that looked like a magician, and above the priest's head was a dragon. Hovering over their heads were the Egyptian Gods. "Whoa..."

May took a closer look at the priest on the left. There was something about him that was familiar, like the images of Raphael that she saw last night. She didn't know how to respond to that, and didn't know whether or not it was the right time to bring it up with Atem, so she stayed quiet. As she looked at the tablet, she thought she saw an unknown reflection in the glass, and a hand raised against hers. May drew her hand back, and the reflection also vanished.

"What did you see?" asked Max. May shrugged her shoulders.

"It's probably my imagination," she answered. Although deep down, she knew that it wasn't the truth.

"Professor," she asked. "Your...granddaughter here," she glared at Rebecca. "Said you unearth

the discovery of the century or something like that."

"Well, miss," said Professor Hawkins. "You are correct, and I think you might want to have a listen to what I have to say.

"What do you mean?" said Max. Usually he would be excited to learn about some ancient archaeological find, but after what transpired yesterday, he didn't feel so enthusiastic.

"I have a theory that all of these monsters sightings," Professor Hawkins explained. He then turned to Yugi. "And it all relates to you, Yugi."

"Huh?" Yugi asked in confusion.

**0-0-0-0-0**

"Home sweet home," Valon stated, staring at the conical fortress on top of a small island. Their jet flew toward what they considered their one true home, where they were allowed to be freed from the burdens of the outside world. It was their paradise.

Raphael smirked as their plane flew closer and closer. "Wait till we tell the boss that we've just found the Pharaoh..._**and**_ taken the Egyptian God Cards." he added.

**0-0-0-0-0**

**Max: Wow, May! Just looked at what we've accomplished! We've won our first duels, **_**and**_ **you caught an Altaria!**

**May: Yeah, it's great...yet somehow I feel as if things are going to go bad. Aliastro's warnings are creeping me out.**

**Max: I know that feeling. So many questions, so little answers.**

**May: Still, we'll figure it out...right?**

**Max: Next time, Between my Brother and Me Chapter 5: "Radiant Spirit"**

**May: So it looks like fate has been unfolded in front of us, what do we do now?**

**Max: Only thing we can do: see how it unfolds.**


	7. V: Radiant Spirit

**Between My Brother and Me - De Novo  
**

**5: Radiant Spirit**

"_In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit."_

_-Albert Schweitzer_

"Seeing these carvings confirms what I suspected all along, Yugi," Professor Hawkins began, motioning to the frozen Tablet of the Pharaoh. "You share a common bond with a 5,000 year old Pharaoh! Do you know what this means?"

"Yeah, that my life is more confusing than most kids," Yugi replied. Whether there was sarcasm laced in the statement, May and Max weren't sure.

"Technically, he's sharing a common bond with _half_ of a 5,000 year old Pharaoh," Max whispered to his sister. "And don't forget, we can't tell anyone about that. We made a promise to Atem and Kura, remember?"

May nodded her head. "I know...If we do that, chaos will erupt. That's the last thing we need at this moment, considering the chaos that's going on right now."

"Let me explain," said Professor Hawkins, clearing his throat. "I've spent the latter part of my career studying Duel Monsters. They started as more than a game; Egyptian Sorcerers discovered a way to seal real monsters away within stone tablets. They would then summon them to display their great power amongst the people. But as more monsters were collected, the sorcerer's' powers grew with it, until eventually, this so-called Shadow Magic spun out of control and threatened to destroy all life on Earth."

"But then, one brave man—the Ancient Pharaoh—was able to face the menace, and turned the darkness into light," May added, interrupting the archaeologist. Everyone else turned to her as she continued. "And now the Pharaoh's power resides within the confines Yugi's Millennium Puzzle, am I right?"

"That's _exactly_ right!" Profess Hawkins replied, but there was no shock shown on his face. Rather he showed amusement. "How on Earth do you know that?"

"I...I..." May tried to say something, but she couldn't reveal the truth about the Pharaoh; she did make a promise to him after all. Plus, even if she did say anything, would they believe her? Hardly.

"I told her!" Max hastily answered, standing in front of his sister. "I read about the origins of Duel Monsters in some old books and then I told May all the information...that's all..." There was some silence for a while as Max and May started to sweat a bit...

"Well, I say that you two must be interested in Duel Monsters to have read all those books." Professor Hawkins smiled. Max and May sighed in relief when they heard the answer, glad that Professor Hawkins wasn't going to evaluate on that subject any further. Their secret was safe, for now.

"How does that explain what's happening now?" Yugi asked with worry. "Have these ancient monsters come back for revenge?"

"I'm afraid so," said Professor Hawkins, sadly. "But before I can explain any further, have any of you heard of the lost city of Atlantis?"

"Pokélantis?" May and Max asked simultaneously, recalling how the King of Pokélantis possessed Ash and made him fight against the Battle King, Brandon.

"No, _Atlantis_," Téa replied. "I remember reading a great book about it once, and how the Ancient Greeks believed it to be some sort of paradise."

"What? You nerd..." Was Tristan and Joey's reply to the comment.

Professor Hawkins could only laugh before he continued. "In my latest expedition, I may have discovered that very city; an underwater world that existed long before Ancient Egypt. But what really puzzled me were the carvings I saw on the wall. Take a look..." He pulled out a few photos from his coat and handed them to Yugi who gasped in surprise.

"Duel Monsters?" Was the reply of the King of Games.

"Precisely," Was the archaeologist's answer. "So these monsters didn't originate 5,000 years in Ancient, they lived at least over _10,000 years ago_ in what I believe is the legendary Lost City of Atlantis."

"Atlantis...was real?" Téa said in shock.

"Do you know what this means?" said Solomon. "Your discovery could completely rewrite history!"

"There's still quite a bit I don't know," Professor Hawkins said in reply, sighing.

Yugi looked through the photos, then stopped at one depicting a mural of a large purple eye and a few meteors raining down on the city. A tidal wave was about to crash down on the remains of the city.

"Look at this," he said. "It looks like the monsters are attacking the city!"

"Actually, it looks like only a _couple_ of them are attacking the town," said Max, staring at the pictures closely with his glasses.

"You're right, Max," said Yugi, after peering at the photos once more. "So...if some of these monsters appear to be evil, does that mean some of these monsters are good?"

"Where this is good, there's evil," May shrugged her shoulders. "And I guess if there's darkness, then there's light. The world needs an equilibrium of these two forces or else it would collapse. Plus, it wouldn't be fair for Atlantis to be _completely _decimated by a giant army of evil monsters, right?"

"You have a point there, miss," said Professor Hawkins. "I believe that there's a parallel world of monsters that exists alongside our own. And throughout history, certain people have been able to release these monsters; some of them have helped mankind, others have tried to destroy it."

Everyone looked in awe as Professor Hawkins finished his theory. Then, Tristan laughed in hysteria, clutching his stomach.

"You're kidding!" he cried. "You nutty professor!"

And that was all he said before Rebecca kicked him in the shin.

"OW!" Tristan exclaimed, hopping on one foot. "The pain!"

"Good!" said Rebecca, stepping back. "'Cause that's my grandfather you're talking about! And anybody who messes with him, messes with me! So keep your comments to yourself, got that punk?!"

"Won't happen again," said Tristan, wincing in pain.

"Don't worry," Professor Hawkins said calmly. "I'm no stranger to ridicule; besides, it _is_ a bit of a far-fetched theory."

"But it's true!" Rebecca exclaimed. "How can you let people walk over something that is the truth?"

"I believe you, Professor." said Joey, who had been silent the whole time.

"Figures you would," said Tristan with some disdain.

"After all the weird stuff we've been through, I'll believe anything," Joey continued. "Like the time I fought Marik in that Shadow Game; all those monster attacks felt pretty real to me.

"And do you remember the times that both Mai and Bakura got blasted into the Shadow Realm? Let's face it, there's plenty stuff out there that can't be explained through science."

"Um, wait," said May, interrupting the blonde duelist. "Marik, Mai and Bakura...weren't they all contestants in the Battle City Finals?"

"What happened?" asked Max. "What's with this 'Shadow Game' and being blasted into the Shadow Realm?"

"It's...a long story," said Téa, looking away. "We don't like talking about it..." It was then that the siblings knew that it wasn't the time to discuss that particular subject. There was some silence for a while.

"So...I guess for a fact that there's a Pharaoh inside Yugi's Millennium Puzzle counts as 'unexplainable stuff', right?" asked May, after a minute or two.

"Actually, our hypothesis suggests that the supernatural phenomena that you all experienced yesterday may actually find its roots in Atlantis," Rebecca stated as if she were some sort of College Professor.

Everyone stared at her in shock, trying to comprehend the young girl's great use of vocabulary.

"Wow," said Tristan. "Those are pretty big words especially coming out of a little kid."

"A KID?!" Rebecca yelled. "I'm a college student, thank you very much!"

"College student?" Everyone else repeated in shock.

"Um, not to be rude or anything," asked Max, raising a hand in the air. "But how old are you, Rebecca?"

"I'm only eight," Rebecca replied with confidence. This made Max a bit ticked off, as he himself was only seven. He growled and clenched his fists, resisting the urge to call out Vigoroth to use Crush Claw on her.

"That's very fascinating," he muttered under his breath.

"My granddaughter is quite gifted," Professor Hawkins stated.

"Oh grandpa!" Rebecca continued, her head held up high. "I'm just your average child genius. Genius: G-e-n-i-u-s."

"Very cute," May muttered with sarcasm under her breath to her brother. "What do you think, Max?"

"I bet you my Silent Magician LV 8 that she can't spell 'obnoxious' in ten different languages." Max said, all while smirking at Rebecca.

"I HEARD THAT!" Rebecca snapped back at the siblings. May and Max just grinned, their hands in the air.

"Now, Rebecca," Professor Hawkins exclaimed. "Is that the behavior of a college student?"

Rebecca, embarrassed, bowed her head. "Sorry, Gramps, go on," she said, adjusting her glasses. Professor Hawkins adjusted his bowtie before speaking.

"Now, the point that I'm trying to make is this," he explained. "When the Egyptian Sorcerers conjured these monster 5000 years ago, the Pharaoh was there to save mankind from destruction." He then turned to Yugi. "And now it seems that that Pharaoh's reborn in you; if that's the case, mankind will need his help once again."

"Yeah, but I don't know where to start, Professor," said Yugi. "Do we start by making these monsters to go back to their own world? Or should we focus on finding out what that weird motorcycle gang is up to?"

"I vote on beating that motorcycle gang," said May, raising a hand in the air. "If I see those jerks again, I swear that the next thing they see is Blaziken's Blaze Kick incinerating them! Then I'll use Munchlax's Solar Beam, followed up by Squirtle's Ice Beam and then..."

"Um, that's not a good suggestion, May," said Max, interrupting his sister. "You remember what Raphael did to Blaziken; he knocked it out cold! Or what about Alister and how he was able to summon fire from his hands?"

May quickly remembered how Raphael was able to slice through Beautifly's Silver Wind attacks with his knife, and the way Alister could execute fiery punches with ease. It seemed so strange and scary to think that they could have those powers. Were they from being empowered by the Seal of Orichalcos? And if not, just how did they obtain those powers in the first place?

"Never mind..." she stated. "Still, it would've been cool to take them out for what they've done and grab all of the Egyptian God Cards from their thieving hands."

"Wait a second...I may have something," said Yugi, pulling out something from his pocket. It was a necklace with a green glowing stone. "Have you ever seen anything similar to this?"

"That's awesome..." Rebecca replied in awe. "I wonder what makes it glow like that?"

"May found something like that too, Professor!" Max added, pulling out something from his backpack—a similar necklace with the same green stone. "She picked it off after beating one of those motorcyclists. If it's also on the neck on the guy Yugi dueled, it _can't_ be just a coincidence!"

"Incredible," said Professor Hawkins, picking up Yugi's necklace. "This stone is remarkably similar to something I discovered on my expedition. Would you mind if I hold onto it for a while, Yugi?"

"No, of course not," Yugi answered, shaking his head. "I mean, I don't think I'll ever have a use for it."

"I'd like to take it back to my lab," Professor Hawkins explained, taking the necklace into his own hands. "I have a feeling that it may hold the answers to many of our questions."

May and Max stared at their own necklace, before looking up at the frozen Tablet of the Pharaoh, as if it was some strange omen of sorts. Something told them that bad things were about to happen in the near future.

**0-0-0-0-0-0-**

It was sunset the group exited the museum. A white limousine was parked in front as both Professor Hawkins and Solomon entered it.

"You kids be careful," said Solomon. "I'm going to take Arthur and Rebecca to the airport and be back later tonight."

"Goodbye, cutie," said Rebecca, kissing Yugi on the cheek before heading into the limo. This act only caused Téa to look at her with anger when she saw her best friend blushing red like a tomato.

"Ta-ta." Was the last thing the young girl said before the door closed. The limo drove off as May and Max replied with, "Good riddance."

Yugi stared at the car driving off, lost in thoughts. _Just as I thought things were getting back to normal, things get ten times weirder..._

_Yes._ Was Yami's reply. _And this time the situation seems more treacherous than ever..._

May stared at her Atem - The Ancient Pharaoh card, seeing the image of the Pharaoh staring back at her. Making sure that no one else could see him, she felt questions form in her mind form. It surprised her to hear what her mental thoughts sounded like.

_Atem...is it right for me to truly not tell Yugi about his fate? _she asked the card. _I feel as if we're just creating more problems by not revealing the truth. Wasn't there a saying known as "The truth will set you free?"_

_With the situation at hand, it is a good idea not to tell._ Atem replied. _And don't forget, both you and your brother promised not to say anything about it...the less he knows about his past, the better. If he should know about Hamunaptra, Gandora, or anything else about that fateful day, then I fear that things will get out of hand, and he may succumb to the forces of darkness._

"You okay, May?" Max asked his sister. "You've been lost in thought for some time now."

"Sorry." said May, slipping Atem's card back to her Duel Disk. "I've...just been thinking about...you know..." Max nodded his head, not wanting to divulge in the subject.

Yugi looked around, as if he heard something. "Did you guys hear someone ask for help?"

"Nah," Tristan replied. "This place is a total ghost town."

"Don't say ghosts," Téa groaned as they stared at their surroundings. It was completely empty; no human was around and the birds were silent. She shuddered, running her hands up and down her arms to warm herself from this invisible chill that crept down her spine.

"Anyway, it's been an exhausting day," said Joey, stifling some yawns. "Let's go catch some Zs."

"Easy for you to say," said Téa as she followed Joey and Tristan. "After hearing that story, it's going to be nightmare central for me for the next few weeks."

Yugi continued to stare at the distance, trying to figure out the voice while May and Max looked at him with worry.

"I...didn't hear any voice," said Max, looking around them. "Did you, May?"

May shook her head. "No...none at all. But, I'm afraid all the same. Things are going to get worse."

**0-0-0-0-0-0**

After dinner, the three residents of the Kame Game Shop soon went to bed. May and Max shared a room next to Yugi's and said their good nights before closing the door. The King of Games himself tossed and turned in bed, remembering the events from this morning and the night before.

_**There's a world of monsters that exists alongside our world...**_ The words of Professor Hawkins swarmed the young duelist's head as he stared at the ceiling.

_Can't sleep, can you?_ Yugi sat up to see Yami staring at him.

"Nope." Yugi answered. "Right now, all I can think about is what Professor Hawkins said about that other world of Duel Monsters and about Atlantis."

_I feel the same way, Yugi. _Yami replied. _If his theory is correct, then this could be our toughest fight yet._

In another bedroom, both May and Max were getting ready for bed as their Pokémon were scattered across the room. Eevee and Squirtle were nestled asleep on May's sheets, Blaziken and Vigoroth were sitting side-by-side asleep on the floor, Altaria was nestling on top of May's pillow and Munchlax was was resting at the foot of the bed. Beautifly and Shuppet were resting on the dresser in between the beds. May looked at all of her cards, especially the Dark Soul Binding Magic Card and Pharaoh's Prophecy Ritual Card, trying to make sense of it all.

"Hey, May." said Max, sitting cross-legged on his bed. "What did you think about Professor Hawkins's theory?"

"Well..." May began, looking up. "He may be right about Altantis, but he still doesn't know everything regarding the Pharaoh's past. He doesn't know about the Heart of Chaos, or how Atem was one of the carriers for it. Plus, I don't think he has a clue about Samiya, Manaphy and Jirachi."

"We should leave that to ourselves. It's no use to explain stuff that the Professor's not going to be figuring out anytime soon. I mean, you saw the look on everyone's faces when we showed them our Pokémon; what do you think would happen if Professor Hawkins had his hands on something as rare as Manaphy or Jirachi?"

"At least he'd take better care of them then whoever is hurting them. But...how does Duel Monsters relate to Pokémon in the first place? There's nothing in common! Monsters like them existed in this 'Shadow Realm' while Pokémon are here on this planet."

"Maybe not _all_ Pokémon came from this planet. I mean, Deoxys and Jirachi came from meteors, and that's that rumor that Clefairy were aliens that came from another planet. Don't forget Mewtwo, who was a clone created by people-"

"Okay, so maybe there _are_ a few exceptions. Still, don't you find this all to be a bit strange?"

"I do. And yet...after what happened with Kyogre and Groudon, and Celebi and all of the other Legendary Pokémon...it doesn't seem _**as**_ strange anymore."

"You do have a point." May sat up, gathered all of the cards into her hands, stacked them up nice and neat, and placed the newly formed deck back into her Duel Disk. "Well, we should get ready for bed. Good night Max."

"Good night, May." Max replied, before turning off the lights. There was some silence before he spoke again. "You know, something has been bugging me for a while."

"What is it?" May sat up as she saw Max pull out the Tome of Hamunaptra from underneath his pillow and opened it. There was a bookmark in the form of a red silk ribbon where the pages depicted a brightly shining moon and an image of Aliastro praying underneath the moon's gentle light.

"Remember when you asked Atem and Kura about the book?" he asked. "How they couldn't answer that question about why it was found in our house?" May nodded her head. "When mom opened the book she couldn't see any of the images, but when we've touched it, it responded to us. And remember the story about how they entered Hamunpatra? Something sounds...off."

"I know what you mean." May answered. "And remember Aliastro unable to tell us about the Moon God, Khon...Khons…"

"Khonsu," said Max, a hand on the book. At the word, the book began to glow and flip its pages towards the image of what was to be the Moon God: a young boy with bushy black hair and a white moon cradled by a yellow crescent on top of his head. The grey eyes the god had seemed gentle...on the page to the left. The one on the right depicted the same god covered in blood as he began to devour the innards of its victim in front of Atem who seemed amused by the god's carnal hunger.

"_That's_ the god Aliastro is searching for?" May whispered, sitting by the side of Max's bed to get a better look. "But it can't be the same thing…or maybe it's like with Atem..."

"What do you mean by that?" asked Max.

"My duel last night," May answered, picking up her deck from her Duel Disk. Spreading the cards out, she pulled out the card depicting Atem with his dark wings and showed it to Max. Max flinched and jumped back a bit when he saw the dark wings and blood covered sword in the pharaoh's hands. "The way he talked to Bandit Keith before he attacked made him sound so...dark and monstrous."

"Like a demon?"

"Yeah. And then there's what he said before Dark Horus spoke to me and-"

"Wait, _Dark Horus_ spoke to you?!" Max repeated. May nodded her head.

"Well he did, and he was proud of how I dealt with Bandit Keith, but it was what Atem said that's been making me wonder. He said that he didn't want anyone to hurt me 'again'." She narrowed her eyes. "That means that something happened in the past."

"So you're not the _only_ one who had Duel Monsters acting weird around you then. I mean, Silent Magician LV 4 winked at me, I thought I heard Valkyrion the Magna Warrior scream in pain like a human would, and I heard Dark Magician Girl talking in my head after I called her pretty!" Max shook his head in disbelief. "This is just getting weirder and weirder."

"We'll think about it later-why don't we get back to reading about Khonsu?"

"Good idea." Max just looked back at the pictures of Khonsu and quickly scanned the story behind him. "It says here that Khonsu is the adopted son of Amun, the King of the Gods, and Mut, the Mother of the Gods, and the three were worshiped in the city of Thebes as the 'Thebian Trio'. Khonsu, sometimes known as 'Khonsu the Merciful' was the protector of travelers at night, representing the moon's light. He also was shown to represent childbirth and the fertility in animals and was a time-keeper alongside Thoth, God of Wisdom, and also a fellow Moon God."

"Seems like he's a very nice god." said May.

"However," Max grimaced. "Khonsu was also known for being a cannibal, slaying the enemies of the Pharaoh and devouring their innards so he could absorb their powers and then the pharaoh could…" He scanned the rest of the story before closing the Tome shut. "UGH! Gross!"

May didn't say anything as Max turned away from the Tome of Hamunaptra. Picking it up, she began to read some stories about Khonsu, of how his image cured a princess's illness from a faraway land (and the image was stuck there for a few years before being sent home), or how he was a bit of a gambler who challenged a goddess for an additional five days so she could give birth to many gods. One image that made her smile was of Khonsu with his parents (who looked strangely like their own parents but in Ancient Egyptian regalia)...it must've been nice to had a mother and father to take care of someone so young (if you could call a god "young" at any rate).

One particular image caught her eye though-it depicted a boy that looked similar to Khonsu being blessed by the Moon God's light, the only difference between them was the boy's saddened amethyst eyes compared to Khonsu's fierce grey ones. Next to the boy was an oval with hieroglyphics inside it that spelled a word.

"Moka…" May whispered.

"You say something?" said Max. May handed him the book and pointed to the name.

"That's the name on Aliastro's cartouche," said May. "The boy next to it must be Moka."

"So...maybe Aliastro is looking for someone who looks similar to Moka then?" asked Max.

"Could be. Wish we had a name for _that_ person though."

"Guess we're going to find that out soon enough." Max pulled off his glasses and laid down on his bed. "Come on, let's get some sleep."

"Night Max," May smiled, placing a kiss on her brother's forehead. As she saw her brother relax, she carried the Tome to her bed and sat down, eyes lingering on that image of Moka and Khonsu, wondering if they were ever going to meet at all. Something about the boy was familiar...but of course, it was like trying to grab onto a bubble, popping instantly the minute one had it in their hands.

As she turned the page, she saw very peculiar items: Duel Monster Cards. She took them into her hands and stared at them, wondering where they had come from. She looked around, but no one was there. The cards depicted images like the Moon God himself, a pool of water in the shape of a crescent moon, and a night sky with stars and a shining full moon...and they came just _after_ Max opened the Tome at could only mean one thing…

"Is the book creating these cards?" May whispered, secretly placing the cards into her deck with the Gravekeeper's monsters. She'd think about it in the morning, after some sleep. Placing the book underneath her Duel Disk, she let her head rest against the pillow, closed her eyes shut, and began to fall into a deep slumber.

**0-0-0-0-0**

Stormy clouds hung around the top of the conical tower. On top of it was an ancient temple with a yellow dome and spires. Deep inside its chambers, three stone serpents and many stone tiles were lit by torches, giving it an ancient glow. The three motorcyclists walked into it, greeted by the white robed man from before.

"We located the Pharaoh, master." Raphael stated. "Unfortunately, we weren't able to capture his soul."

"Well, I didn't expect you to defeat him to _**this**_ soon." The man answered back. "We've only just begun."

"But you know me, Master." Raphael continued, walking up the steps with a wooden jewelry box in hand. "I never come back empty handed."

He opened the box lined with velvet, revealing the three Egyptian God Cards. The robed man smirked as he saw the prized monsters.

"Excellent." Was his response as he took them into his hands. "The Egyptian Gods; at long last, I waited an eternity to have their powers in my hands." The cards began to glow as he continued. "I finally possess the supreme force necessary to awaken the great beast. Soon, we shall rid the Earth of mankind; and rebuild civilization as it once was!"

He proceeded to place each of the God Cards within the open mouths of the serpents as he continued to speak.

"Serpents of the Orichalcos, hear my cry." The hooded man called out. "I offer thee the Gods of Egypt; use their divine might to unlock the sacred chamber of the great beast! Awaken from his ancient slumber by accepting my offering."

Three beams of light escaped from the cards, soon shooting out into the sky while the white robed man laughed.

"The time has arrived my friends." He finished. "Finally, after 10,000 years, the Great Leviathan shall rise again!"

**0-0-0-0-0**

Hours had passed as both May and Max were asleep, alongside Yugi and the Pharaoh in the next room. Yugi had been woken up by a voice that called out to him, asking for help, and he found himself inside the MIllennium Puzzle and its labyrinthian corridors with the Pharaoh, following Kuriboh and a shadowy figure just like Alice chasing the White Rabbit into Wonderland, unaware of the events that were about to happen.

The duel disks of the Petalburgh siblings sat on some wooden chairs in between them, both of their decks kept in their deck holders. Suddenly, cards in May's Duel Disk started to glow, but May was too sleepy to even notice it.

_Goddess of Joy...please wake up..._

May paid no attention to the voice as she rolled over to the left side of her bed. Even if she was half-conscious, she knew that the voice wasn't Atem or Kura's.

"Go away, Harley..." she muttered under her breath. "Altaria, attack his Cacturne with Sing..." She grumbled a bit as she fell back to sleep. The voices were insistent, though.

_Goddess! This is important! Please wake up! You are needed..._

May grit her teeth as Altaria started to wake up, adjusting its eyes to the light. Staring at the glowing cards, it scooted its way out of the bed and gently flew over to the wooden chairs. Altaria began to peck at the glowing cards in its trainer's Duel Disk.

"Al?" It said in confusion. It turned its gaze away when a bright light filled the room. When the light died down, Altaria looked up to see two people standing there, both staring at it with confusion. It began to peck an arm, or at least tried to. Its beak went through the person. Realization dawned on it as it backed away in terror.

"ALTARIA!" The Humming Pokémon screeched, causing the residents in the room to wake up with a fright.

"What's going on, Altaria?" asked Max, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. Once he slipped his glasses on, he looked up to see two spirits staring at them. "Oh my gosh...are those..."

May rubbed one of her sleepy eyes with a hand.

"What's with the screech, Altaria?" she muttered before she looked at the space in-between her bed and her brother's. She stared at the spirits dumbly before the situation registered into her mind.

"G...GHOSTS!" May screamed, pointing to them. "Eevee, attack with Shadow Ball!"

"Shuppet, use Will-O-Wisp!" Max commanded. "Blast those spirits away!"

Eevee opened its mouth as a sphere of black energy appeared. Shuppet's eyes began to glow as blue flames circled it.

"FIRE!" The siblings cried as their Pokémon launched the attacks. The blasts neared the spirits...

But they were blocked by an invisible force field, and the attacks transformed into nothing but motes of light. Both May and Max started to tremble as the spirits took a step toward them.

"Beautifly!" said May to her Butterfly Pokémon. "Use Silver-"

Suddenly a ghostly hand covered her mouth, interrupting the command. The Pokémon trainer was about to scream when a voice echoed in her mind.

_Please Goddess, halt your attack! We mean you no harm..._

The hand lowered and was placed onto May's heart. The Coordinator looked up, seeing the two spirits that were looking back at her.

The first one was tall—May's head would reach up to his elbow—with short brown hair and fierce blue eyes. A tall blue hat with a golden cobra and rays covered the side and back of his head, while his tan arms were adorned with golden bracers. In his hands was a golden staff with winged blades at the sides. A blue tunic, wrapped by a golden belt and additional tan linen 'skirt' (Was it right to say "skirt"? May wouldn't ask that right now) draped his body, the blue tunic adorned with golden attachments on the shoulders, and a golden ankh wrapped around his neck.

The second spirit was the opposite with the taller spirit. He had golden hair bright like the sun and amber eyes and was wearing a red tunic instead of blue and a white 'skirt' (No, it was called a "shenti"...how May knew that immediately, she didn't know and didn't bother to ask right now) instead of tan. He had no hat but also wore a pair of golden bracers and carried a staff topped with a curved head and a forked bottom. The expression of his face was one of gloom and depression.

May gulped as she scooted back, only to find herself trapped in the corner. It also didn't help that the brunette spirit grabbed her wrist, and stared at her with his own eyes. The spirit in blue looked in some sort of shock, as if trying to register the sight in front of him. There was nothing but silence as May tried to keep the breath she inhaled deep within her throat.

"So...this is the Goddess of Joy?" he replied. "She's...grown up." May's breath came in short pants, recalling how Raphael had grabbed her wrist like that before being sent hurtling down to her death. She didn't want to die after surviving that fall.

"G...get away from me!" she cried, trying to push the person away with a foot...only to find that her foot went through him. The spirit looked down at her sock-covered foot before stepping back so it didn't go through its stomach. "I...I don't know what you want with me, but please don't hurt me!"

"What do you want with her?" asked Max. "Tell us!"

There was some silence as the blue-dressed spirit stared into May's eyes. May stayed quiet, trying to anticipate the spirit's next move. Then, the spirit sat down by the edge of her bed and ran a hand through the Coordinator's hair. May slightly winced at the touch, afraid it would lead into something more violent, but after the fourth or fifth stroke, she started to calm down.

"I guess you don't remember us at all," The spirit said to her with a bit of sorrow in his voice. "I suppose that was to be a given."

"W...who are you?" asked May, lightly brushing away the hand, registering that it was now solid. "Do I...know you?"

"I am Seth, the High Priest of the White Dragon," The spirit answered, bowing towards the young girl. "I am the cousin to Pharaoh Atem and the bearer of the Blue Eyes White Dragon. Would that ring a bell?"

There was some silence as May stared at him, _really_ stared him, trying to remember where and when they had met before. Then, it clicked.

"Wait a minute, I _do_ know you!" May scrambled to her Duel Disk, pulling the cards out of her deck until she found her Pharaoh's Prophecy card. She showed it to Seth, pointing at a specific image on the card. "You're the person on the Tablet of the Pharaoh, the one that was fighting Atem. Right?"

Seth took the card into his hands, peering at the small images on it. After some time, he handed the card back to May. Max stayed quiet, uncertain as to what to do.

"Yes, I was that Priest," Seth answered, smiling toward May. "I was trying to summon my spirit to contact you when you noticed the Tablet. I created the tablet in honor of my dear cousin."

May felt all warm and fuzzy inside, a blush appearing on her cheeks. "Thank you for noticing that."

"You're welcome," May turned to the stranger who stood near Max. "And, who is he?"

"He is my partner, Jouno of the Oracle of the Sacred Flame. He sees into the future through the ashes of the Phoenix. He foresaw this day from the Dark King himself, and..." Seth closed his eyes a bit, doing his best to hide back his tears. "This meeting has made us feel so overjoyed, Goddess..."

"Well then, I guess that goes double," May smiled, feeling her heart a flutter. She then turned to Jouno. "Hello there, Jouno. My name is May. It's nice to meet you."

"..." Jouno just stared at the girl, his eyes empty and full of sadness. May blinked, her bright smile faltering.

"I..is something wrong?" she asked. "Are you hurt?"

"..."

"It's alright; Max and I won't hurt you. Can you talk?"

"..." Jouno looked away, as if embarrassed. Just seeing that made May's heart break inside...what could've caused someone like him, especially since he looked exactly like Joey Wheeler, to become so withdrawn?

"He's a bit shy when it comes to introductions," Seth explained. "But I'll be happy to explain the current situation. First, we must have everyone here. Will you summon my cousin and his friend for us, Goddess of Joy?"

"Um, I guess so," said May, picking up two cards from her deck. "Atem, Kura...can you come out?"

The two cards in her hand began to glow and both Pharaoh and Thief Lord appeared in a burst of light. Max looked in awe at the four spirits together. Atem turned toward the High Priest and nodded his head.

"It has been some time, hasn't it?" he asked.

"Indeed," said Seth. "To think that we were called out so soon...and in this situation..."

"Yes, it is unfortunate...but Jouno…" Atem stayed quiet when he saw both Petalburgh siblings staring at them. "No, we will talk about this later. We have more important things to worry about."

"Yeah, we do," said Max, looking back and forth at the spirits conversing with one another. "What's going on?"

"You'll see when we get there," Atem answered. "Now follow us. We are needed."

"Wait, what are you—whoa!" That was what both May and Max said when a glowing portal appeared under Atem's feet. The two were then pushed in, soon followed by the four spirits. The portal closed before Altaria had a chance to jump in, causing the other Pokémon to act confused on what happened.

**0-0-0-0-0**

Both May and Max soon found themselves teleported into a strange land after being tossed and turned about from whatever force pulled them into that portal. It was a kingdom with mountains, forests and a river. A floating chunk of land was near a white castle with orange roofs and many windows. It felt somewhat like a fairytale land appearing in front of their eyes. Of course, May and Max weren't strangers of entering different dimensions—as they once traveled to a kingdom filled with adorable Togepi and Misty's own Togepi evolved into Togetic to take care of them—but that didn't mean they weren't curious as to their new surroundings.

"Where are we?" asked May, looking around. She turned to see Atem appearing behind her, a small smile on his face. "Atem, what is this place?"

"You are here in the realm of Monsters, Goddess of Joy," Atem answered. "You and the Prince of Wisdom have been sent here because it is important that you learn what is happening."

"Wait, did you just call me 'Prince of Wisdom'?" asked Max. "That was the same thing Dark Magician Girl called me last night! But why do I have that type of title? And why do you keep calling May a 'Goddess'?"

"Because Goddess is Goddess," Jouno explained simply, his voice not going any louder than a whisper. May and Max jumped a bit, not expecting Jouno to speak up like that. "She has powers that even we cannot comprehend. As for you being called a Prince..."

"It's only because you have a considerable amount of knowledge," said Seth, finishing the dream interpreter's words. "But now is not the time...follow us."

"This way, you two," said Kura as both May and Max grabbed onto his hands. As they flew toward the castle, brother and sister stared at a huge yellow eye with a black slit staring at them amongst purple clouds. Yellow meteors were being sucked into its center as the two could only stare in horror.

"What is that thing?" May asked. Max shrugged his shoulders, unable to answer that question.

The six soon made it into the inner chamber of the castle. White pillars surrounded the area while three huge dragon sculptures made out of crystals were at the center. May and Max soon found themselves hiding behind a few of the pillars, seeing both Yami and Yugi talking to the Dark Magician Girl.

"There's Yugi!" May said in a low voice. "And that guy next to him..." She pointed to the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle. "He must be Atem's other half, right?"

"That's him," Max answered, recalling how he dueled alongside Yugi's other self the night before. "But why are we hiding here? Something isn't right." He took a glance at Dark Magician Girl, recalling her smile to him. Now, she looked more solemn and filled with melancholy.

"Shh..." Kura hissed at the children, placing a finger to his lips. "Quiet, you're about to hear some critical information."

"Pharaoh, both of our worlds are in danger," said the female Spellcaster. "And without your help, we, both humans and Duel Monsters, will all cease to exist."

"So what Professor Hawkins said _**was**_ true," said Max, hearing the words. "Wow, I can't wait to-" Seth floated toward Max and quickly clamped a hand over the boy's mouth so he wouldn't startle Yugi or the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle.

"As long as mankind has walked the Earth, the dominion of beasts has existed alongside the human world," Dark Magician Girl continued. "We have lived this way for thousands of years, but although our worlds are separate, we depend on one another in order to survive. But now something is threatening that survival and it must be stopped. A gateway between us has opened, and now the great beast will swallow us all."

May and Max could only gasp in shock, both of them thinking if this Great Beast was the same one whom they had seen on their way to the castle, and if it was the same one that hurt Manaphy and Jirachi.

"It lives above the sky, feasting upon the life force on both humans and monsters alike," Dark Magician Girl continued. "We need you, Pharaoh...all of us need you. If this continues, we will fade away forever. You two are our only hope."

May and Max stared at all of the Duel Monster spirits that surrounded the Dark Magician Girl...they looked so sad, and scared and so pitiful. They wanted to do something to comfort them, but all they could do was watch as they saw Dark Magician Girl instruct the Pharaoh and Yugi to pull out a sword from the eye of one of the dragon statues.

Yugi and Yami pulled the sword out of the dragon, the statue soon breaking apart into hundreds of pieces of glass that fell down like a shower of snow. Appearing before them was a blue-green dragon with a slash going down its right eye like a scar.

"Look at it..." May gasped. "It looks even bigger than Dark Horus! It's amazing..."

"Timaeus!" Yami and Yugi shouted, crying the dragon's name. The dragon let out a giant roar as a blinding light surrounded the area. May and Max couldn't see anything else as the dome of light blanketed the area.

"Too bright!" Max replied, covering his eyes. "I can't see what's going on!"

"It's about to be over," said Atem. "Then your role in this story shall commence."

May opened her eyes to see the dragon, and saw that Yami and Yugi had vanished. It was then that she felt her body move toward Dark Magician Girl, despite not wanting to go there in the first place. It felt similar to whenever a Pokémon would use Psychic.

"What's going on?" she asked as Max and the four spirits also appeared by their sides. Many of the monsters were now staring at the Pokémon trainers in wonder as Dark Magician Girl flew down to them. "W...why are the monsters staring at us like this?"

"I don't know," Max answered, seeing a Key Mace flutter by his head and giving him a kiss on the cheek. "Maybe they're just curious about us."

"Goddess of Joy," said Dark Magician Girl, bowing to May. "It has been a long time since we last met."

"Um...I guess it has been," said May, trying to act calm. It was hard to though since she then said, "We have a lot of questions to ask you though: Why are Max and I involved in this struggle? And why does everyone call me 'Goddess of Joy'? I mean...it's a nice title, but I can't get into this role if I don't know why I'm being called that."

"I agree with May," Max added. "I mean, I know that we have Atem's backstory about him being the real Pharaoh, and all this madness about Atlantis and real life Duel Monsters...but what does it have to do with _us_?"

"The Prince of Wisdom...you have arrived also," said Dark Magician Girl, smiling at the boy. Max looked in confusion at the title. "Thank you for aiding the Pharaoh the night before. You were very courageous."

"You're still not answering my question," Max folded his arms across his chest and glared. "And I usually _**like**_ to have answers to my questions. You're hiding something from us, and whatever it is..."

"Please understand," Dark Magician Girl interrupted. "Your bonds with them...they are the reason that you were drawn into this madness. That and..."

"So...you _know_ about Manaphy and Jirachi then!" May gasped, she grabbed onto the Dark Magician Girl's shoulders. "What's going on?! Where's Manaphy?"

Dark Magician Girl looked at the Petalburg siblings with some sadness, but otherwise did not respond to the question. This only made May angry, and many of the Duel Monsters floated away as if they could feel the girl's wrath seeping out of her.

"I said tell me!" she yelled. "What's happened to them?!"

There was still no answer as tears fell down the Pokémon Coordinator's eyes. She grit her teeth as she tried her hardest not to accept the inevitable—that Manaphy was dead and Samiya was destroyed.

"You're keeping something from me, aren't you, Dark Magician Girl?!" May exclaimed, becoming hysterical. "Aren't you?!"

"May..." Max whispered, seeing his sister in her panicked state. "Please calm down...there has to be a logical explanation for all of this. I'm sure that Manaphy's safe and sound...right?"

"I'm afraid that's the problem," said Dark Magician Girl, lightly pushing May off of her. "Goddess of Joy, this 'Manaphy' and 'Jirachi' that you speak of may be keys for the destruction of our worlds. I believe that whomever is summoning the Great Beast may seal them in order to use their powers."

"No...that can't be..." May said softly, shaking her head. "Manaphy...MANAPHY!"

The Pokémon Coordinator began to sob. She could only imagine the horrors the sweet little Prince of the Sea was being subjected to, and how she couldn't do anything to help him. Tears

fell down her cheeks as she kept crying out for Manaphy.

"Goddess..." said Atem, slowly approaching May. "Please...do not cry..."

"No!" she cried, pushing the Pharaoh away. "Go away! I want Manaphy! I want him here! Won't someone help me?!"

One of the cards in May's deck started to glow; May pulled it out to reveal the image of Dark Horus staring at her. Then, a harsh wind began to blow and a loud screech accompanied it. The imposing figure of the black dragon descended from sky, beating its mighty wings.

"Dark Horus?!" Jouno gasped. "H...how did she gain that monster?"

"She picked it up from Mr. Muto himself, having this 'feeling' that Dark Horus was calling for her." Max answered hastily. "Why do you ask?"

"We best be careful," Seth muttered under his breath. "This could get dangerous."

"Why's that?"

"Horus was known as a God of Protection in Ancient Egypt. However, he was one of the first gods to be corrupted by darkness...If the Goddess of Joy cannot reason with him, then she is not worthy of being the Goddess of Joy."

"And what would happen if May isn't worthy? I mean, she said that Dark Horus was proud of her when she summoned him last night..."

No one spoke a word. The dragon looked down at his master and scooped May into its claws. The Coordinator looked in shock, but calmed down when she saw the calm look in its eye. Or maybe it just looked calm and he was hiding some unseen fury within its depths.

"Dark Horus..." May whispered, wiping a tear from her eye. "What are you doing here?"

Dark Horus flapped his powerful wings, as if to say "I wish to help you." May slowly nodded her head in reply. She took a calm breath as she kept staring at the dragon, anticipating its next move. The dark dragon opened its mouth, causing everyone to fear that he would unleash a fiery breath to incinerate the girl, but instead he let out a proud screech.

"Is...is that good?" asked Max, seeing Dark Horus flap its wings.

"It seems that he has truly accepted our Goddess," said Jouno, nodding his head. "Her heart is pure, and to him that is all that matters."

"Goddess of Joy," said Dark Magician Girl. "Even with the Great Beast taking away those you love, I am sure that both of these people that you care for are all right." May wanted to object that both Manaphy and Jirachi were Pokémon, but decided to keep her mouth shut. "However...there is another reason why you are here, and why you are entitled as the 'Goddess of Joy'."

_**Goddess...your power has been known to bring happiness to the lives of other people.**_ May and Max gasped at the booming voice of Dark Horus echoing across the palace. _**You are an inspiration to everyone around you. You could make them all forget their sorrows for a short while by lifting their spirits. Just by being here, you have brought hope that the Great Beast will be destroyed.**_

May turned to see the group of monsters cheering in applause while a Kuriboh floated towards her and sat on her shoulder. The Kuriboh cooed and snuggled into her a bit.

"Do I really have that power?" May whispered to herself. Atem and Kura knelt to her while May looked at the act with some shock. "Whoa..."

_**Goddess of Joy...the Pharaoh will soon be in grave peril. You must make sure that he is protected fwhen the time is right.**_ said Dark Horus. _**Right now, your powers are at a level that you can summon monsters to aid you against those who could cause harm. Everyone has decided that I shall be a representative from your deck to protect you, just as you brought me back to life twice during your fight.**_

"Are you sure? You're a Dark Monster after all. Don't Chosen need monsters that are based off of the Light? Or at least...not dark _based_?"

_**Just because I am Dark monster, it does not designate me as evil. Darkness is evil only in the hands of those who believe it to be evil. You, who command me, and the spirits of the once corrupted Pharaoh and Thief Lord, have proven that monsters of my type can be used for good. You, Goddess of Joy, showed no bias against our type in your duel. Truly, we can rely on you to be our Master.**_

"Then I'll do my best then, Dark Horus," said May, curtseying toward the powerful dragon. "I promise you that."

"But what about me?" asked Max, looking around. "Why am I called the Prince of Wisdom? I mean...I don't have knowledge about Duel Monsters at all!"

_It's true, but you are able to think on your feet when the time is right. _A soft voice said inside his mind, almost as if it was brushing against his ear. _Wisdom means knowing when to use your knowledge at the right time._

Max looked at his Duel Disk, seeing the top card glowing. He drew it, revealing Silent Magician LV 8. The titular magician descended from a pillar of light, arms stretched out, and an unseen wind billowing through her hair. The Duel Monsters began to bow

"Why are these spirits bowing down to us, May?" Max asked his sister. May shrugged her shoulders in reply.

"It is because you are the representatives of the original beings of Joy and Wisdom," Dark Magician Girl explained. "The Goddess of Joy and the Prince of Wisdom were once important figures in Ancient Egypt. The 'Prince of Wisdom' was represented by the god Thoth, while the 'Goddess of Joy' was truly Isis, the husband of Osiris. These two would ultimately help bring about the end to the darkness, and now their powers are passed onto you."

"So if we were some sort of deities, why are our powers revealed now?" May asked with some shock. "And why didn't anyone tell us sooner?"

"You were not just 'deities', but rather _representations_ of the deities," Atem explained. "And just like the Pharaoh has no memory of his past, so did the reincarnations of Joy and Wisdom. "Their souls would continue to bring hope and gifts to mankind, rekindling a rebirth of some sorts. However, this would be the first time that they would be summoned to stop a menace like the Great Beast."

"That's amazing," Max whispered. "So...what happens now?"

"Mana! Mana!" May gasped at hearing the voice. "Momma! Momma!" A small glowing figure flew through the pillars and circled around May, who only replied with shock.

"Mana! Mana! Mana!" The glowing stopped as May could only stare in shock...it was Manaphy, and it looked happy to meet her.

"Manaphy..." May gasped. "You're okay!" She grabbed the Seafaring Pokémon into her arms and began to cry, many tears falling down her face.

"Momma...sad?" asked Manaphy when it was hit with some of the tears. "Momma...not happy?"

May sniffled as she wiped the tears away. She smiled and hugged Manaphy.

"No...I'm happy, Manaphy." She replied. "These are tears of happiness...showing that you're alright...I'm glad..."

"Momma is happy! May is happy!" Manaphy cheered. The other Duel Monsters took heed, applauding May as she looked on in confusion. When she was on stage and performing for people for a Pokémon Contest, she felt like she was on top of the world, In front of these Duel Monsters, she felt so shy and awkward.

"So if Manaphy is here, what about Jirachi?" asked Max, frowning.

_Max...Max...I'm here._

Max whirled around when he heard that voice. "Jirachi?" He asked, looking to his left and right. "Jirachi, is that you? Where are you?!"

_Behind you! Turn around!_

Maxdid exactly that, seeing the Wish Pokémon floating toward him. Max brought his hands out to catch his dear friend, who was now awake instead of sleeping, and hugged him tight. The young boy bit his lip and tears fell down his face, showing nothing but relief and concern for his dear friend.

"Jirachi, what's going on?" he asked, hastily wiping the tears from his eyes so no one would notice. "Who kidnapped you and caused Samiya to be destroyed? What's happened?"

_Something is coming after you two..._ Jirachi explained telepathically. _It is because of your bonds with us that you are soon being hunted. Perhaps it was destiny that you were two were sent to Domino City...and perhaps it is also destiny that you stop whomever is trying to hurt you._

"But what about those dreams, Jirachi?" asked Max. "It showed Samiya destroyed by a large shadow, and someone stealing you away!"

_Samiya is important to Manaphy, just like May was to him_. _And you considered me a best friend...think for a minute Max, I know you understand what's going on._

Max rubbed his chin in thought, trying to recollect the dreams. May's dream was similar to what she explained when the two were with Lizabeth and her family, while his own dream was him meeting up with a sleeping Jirachi amongst a mountain side. The only connection they had, aside from being Legendaries, were the fact that Manaphy and Jirachi interacted with both Petalburgh siblings. That meant...

"The dreams are talking about Manaphy and Jirachi being captured," Max explained, putting things together, eyes wide. "Manaphy and Jirachi were chosen, because they were related to us, the Goddess of Joy and Prince of Wisdom. Whoever is stealing them is using those two because they believe that the Legendary Pokémon might be channeling power to us!" Jirachi smiled.

_Correct, Max...I knew you were smart._

More of the monsters were now whispering to themselves about Max's knowledge, the young boy just blushing to himself. Dark Magician Girl laughed a bit at the site.

"What did I tell you?" she said. "Both of you are definitely representatives of the beings of Joy and Wisdom. And it appears that these two creatures are 'Manaphy' and 'Jirachi', right?"

"Yes, that would be correct," said May, hugging Manahpy as if he was her child. Technically Manaphy was her child in a way. "Oh Manaphy..."

"Mama!" said Manaphy. "Look! Look!"

May looked down to see herself dressed in a light blue hooded cloak with a red border. Her hands were covered by golden bangles, and a pair of sandals replaced her sneakers. Beneath the cloak was a white tunic that trailed to her ankles—her Duel Disk was still on her arm though, its colors were now blue and red—and she even had a gold pendant of a small ankh around her neck. In her hands was a staff similar to Jouno's, decorated with blue and white feathers that seemed to be made out of fire.

"Wow...is this my outfit?" May asked with surprise, looking all around her at different angles to get a better look. "It's...beautiful!"

"That was the outfit from the Goddess of Joy 5,000 years ago," said Atem. May soon found some of the monsters also bowing down to her as well. "It looks beautiful on you, Goddess."

"He's right, May," said Max, circling his sister. "It looks great on you. If only I had an outfit like that..."

Suddenly, he heard the sound of laughter. The young boy turned to see Seth and Jouno slightly laughing at him.

"What's so funny?" asked Max.

"But what about you, my Prince? Have you not seen _your_ outfit?" asked Seth.

"I assure you, it is fit for a wise ruler as yourself," Jouno added.

Max blinked in confusion until he looked at his own outfit. He now wore a light green tunic with a silver cord of rope tied around it, and a dark green cape was draped around his neck. Resting on his head was a circlet decorated with seven colored stars, and in his hand was the same staff like May except decorated with charms of stars at the end and the top resembling a papyrus plant. His Duel Disk was now yellow and black, the center now shaped like a star, and the disk being curved to make it look like an arc.

"Wow," Max whispered, turning round and round to get a better look at his outfit. "This is _**so cool**_! I wonder what type of powers I have! Hey, maybe I can do magic! Abracada-"

Suddenly a huge rumbling was heard, causing everyone to be in shock. Dark Magician Girl looked up, seeing parts of the castle starting to collapse all around them. Many of the monsters screamed in terror and began to run away from the falling debris.

_**Goddess! We must go now! **_May looked up at Dark Horus who soon scooped the young Coordinator into his claws.

"But..." May started to ask, but was interrupted when she saw Silent Magician LV 8 grabbing

onto Max. Both siblings stared at the sight while Dark Magician Girl waving at them.

"Good luck, Goddess of Joy and Prince of Wisdom!" she cried. "Help assist the Pharaoh in his darkest hour."

"We will!" May replied. "We promise!"

"Bye-bye!" Manaphy replied, waving at the site. That was the last thing both siblings heard before a bright light surrounded them.

**0-0-0-0-0**

May slowly opened her eyes, finding herself blinded by a strange light. She woke up to find herself on her bed once more, dressed in her original blue outfit. All of the Pokémon in the room were fast asleep.

"Mmmm, is it morning already?" she asked herself. She then looked at the window, seeing multi-colored lights that looked similar to the Aurora Borealis. "Wait...it can't be!"

"May, look at this!"

May turned to her brother, seeing that he had two new cards now: A Ritual Monster and a matching Ritual Spell Card. The former looked a lot like Jirachi, while the latter was of a meteor streaking down from the sky.

"I got cards based on Jirachi!" Max gasped out. "And it looks like you got cards from Manaphy!"

May looked down, seeing two cards also staring at her. One of them was of Manaphy with its happy grin and large eyes staring at her, and the other was a picture of Samiya. It seemed impossible...but the two cards were in front of her, so that meant everything that happened in the world of Duel Monsters was real.

"Maybe Jirachi and Manaphy want to help us in some way," said May, looking at the cards. "They can't be with us physically, so they could be with us spiritually..." That was when she remembered the lights outside of the Game Shop. "Max...something must be going on outside."

"What are we waiting for?!" asked Max, as he got his sneakers on. "Let's get going!"

May nodded as she jumped out of bed, immediately strapping on her sneakers. Before she barged out of the room, she grabbed her yellow waist pack, wrapping it around her hips, placing her two new cards into a separate pouch.

The two ran outside to see other people staring at the site. They could see monsters of different varieties being sucked into the grey clouds. The two immediately found Yugi and his friends at the center of town with a tall silver clock ticking away the seconds. Both siblings were exhausted but were at least glad to have found the King of Games.

"What's going on here?" asked May. "What's with this light?"

"Not sure," said Tristan, pointing to the sky. "But I think _that_ might have something to do with it.."

May and Max looked to see a huge collection of green crystals descending from the sky. A million motes of light were being drawn into the gems and absorbed into them, causing the light to glow brighter.

May looked down at her waist pack and opened one of the pouches. She immediately pulled out her card of Manaphy and stared at it closely, before watching the giant crystals that shattered, revealing a glowing eye that seemed to glare at the people that looked up at it.

"Manaphy was going to be used for that?" Max whispered. "That's so scary."

"It's best we don't expose it to that thing..." May pocketed the card and activated her Duel Disk. "Come on, what are we going to do?"

"We have to summon something strong enough to stall it," Yugi answered, drawing a card. "I think I know what to do."

"He's got a good idea," May drew a card. "Come on out, Dark Horus! Attack with Dark Flare Blitz!"

"I choose you, Chaos Command Magician!" Max added. "Help us out with Prism Blast!"

The green magician and the giant black hawk-like dragon emerged and flew toward the Great Beast. Chaos Command Magician fired a blast of rainbow-colored energy from his staff while Dark Horus roared and unleashed a burst of flames from his mouth. The two attacks hit the eye, but attacks did nothing except piss the eye even more. It fired maelstrom of energy fired at the two monsters, causing them to fall to the ground and shatter.

"No!" May cried, seeing the Dark Horus card in her hand. "This can't be..."

The eye hurled another gust of energy toward Yugi, blowing Téa, Tristan and Joey off of their feet. May and Max helped buffer the blow by pushing Yugi to the ground, the Petalburgh siblings looking up to see the eye growling at them...if it was even possible for an eye to even growl in the first place.

"Thanks you two," said Yugi, slowly standing up. "Let me make it up to you." The Millennium Puzzle began to glow as he held a card into the sky. "Come forth, Timaeus! Destroy that beast!"

The card in his hand began to glow white as a large teal dragon emerged from the cluster of clouds in the sky. May and Max gasped, along with the other citizens of Domino City, as the dragon soared across Domino City, weaving through more bursts of energy the eye fired.

Eventually, Timaeus opened its mouth, releasing a giant orb of fire that hit the eye in the center. There was a high-pitched screech before the eye cracked into hundreds of pieces that fell toward the Earth like a meteor shower. The citizens of Domino City cheered as the dragon faded away. May and Max looked at each other.

"This is...not the end, is it?" asked Max. May nodded her head.

"It's just beginning," May answered, a hand close to her chest. "It seems our vacation ended just before we had a chance."

"What do we do then?" Max looked at the Duel Monster form of Jirachi.

"We'll do what Dark Magician Girl asked us to do," May smiled, squeezing Max's hand in her own. "We'll fight alongside the Pharaoh, stop those bikers, get the Egyptian God Cards and, who knows? But I know that we're going to do this together...that's what family is for."

"Yeah," Max smiled and nodded his head. "Together."

**0-0-0-0-0**

The hooded figure snarled, a hand clasping his forehead. With a wave of his free hand, the image in the pool of water faded away. There was some silence as he looked at the forms of the Egyptian God Cards before he closed his eyes.

"Well then," he said to himself. "It looks like things have gotten more interesting."

**0-0-0-0-0**

**Max: I'm the Prince of Wisdom, and you're the Goddess of Joy, May!**

**May: It's still hard to believe, especially now that we have Manaphy and Jirachi as Duel Monster cards.**

**Max: Hey, there's a package sent to Yugi by someone named Maximillion Pegasus; wait, he's the Creator of Duel Monsters!**

**May: And he's asking us to head off to this place called America! I'm in!**

**Max: We made a promise to help Dark Magician Girl. There's no backing now, especially with everything that we've learned.**

**May: Agreed. Next time, "Between My Brother and Me - De Novo" Chapter 6, Preparation of Rites**

**Max: Let's take the stage this time, May! I challenge you to a duel!**

**May: Game on, Max!**


	8. VI: Preparation of Rites

**Between My Brother and Me**

**6: **Preparation of Rites

"_Before anything else, preparation is the key to success."_

_-Alexander Graham Bell_

For as long as Mokuba could remember, he rarely remembered his dreams. The most prominent one he could recall was one when he and Seto were younger. In that dream, they rode on a Blue Eyes White Dragon, traveling toward the rising sun free from their troubles. Perhaps it was because the dream had significance to life was the only reason he could retain it with perfect clarity.

Right now, in the city of Seattle, as he waited for his brother to finish his conference, he was asleep in their hotel room, a book covering his chest. It was a book on Egyptian Mythology that he bought prior to the conference, having grown curious with its tales ever since his brother told him about the strange tablet he saw with Ishizu. Something about the Ancient Pharaoh and the High Priest's struggles and the Shadow Realm piqued his interest. He needed to know more.

The young boy opened his eyes, finding himself in a strange realm of darkness. He shivered—he was once trapped in the Shadow Realm, and he never wanted to experience anything like that ever again. However, knowing that he wasn't going to get any answers by standing around, he began to walk forward, showing a brave face. If he looked brave, then he would believe he was brave.

"Hello? Is someone here?" Mokuba asked, looking around. "My name is Mokuba...and I won't harm anyone. Could someone speak to me? Please?"

There was some more silence as Mokuba noticed some sort of temple in the distance. Perhaps there was someone who could explain where he was. He began to climb the steps, hearing voices whispering to him...or maybe it was about him, he couldn't pinpoint it exactly.

"_He's here! He's here!"_

"_After all this time..."_

"_We want to play again!"_

"_Play and play forever!"_

"_Won't you please play with us?"_

Numerous voices hissed, giggled, growled and more, making Mokuba more unnerved with each step. Still, he did his best to ignore them as he reached the temple doors, each of them etched with the symbol of a full moon. They opened just before Mokuba could take a step forward. Torches lit up to reveal a statue of a young boy with a moon hovering over his head. Etched onto the walls were hieroglyphics—one wall specifically told about a boy blessed by the moonlight, his soul (depicted as a boy's head on a bird's body) sent to the heavens. Mokuba was more interested in the statue, though.

"This can't be right..." Mokuba whispered. "He looks just like...me."

He walked toward it, feeling warmth, hope, sadness...he felt tears falling down his eyes but he didn't understand why. Once he was finally face to face with the statue, he placed a hand toward the statue's cheeks. The expression on its face looked so solemn, as if it saw nothing but suffering throughout its entire life.

"I wonder what your story is," Mokuba whispered. "Tell me more about yourself..."

"_Are you here...to release me?" _a voice whispered. Mokuba stepped back at the voice echoing in his head—it sounded similar to him. _"You are...aren't you?"_

"Who are you?" asked Mokuba. He noted the moon over the boy's head. "Wait, are you Khonsu? The Moon God? The one who defends travelers?"

"_That is correct." _The statue answered. _"My spirit has been sealed away for such a long time. I cannot fly around like I used to. Please, help me."_

"What would you want me to do? Tell me. I always wanted to talk to a god before."

"_I need you to establish a 'link'. Although I cannot see you, I can hear you and your heart. It is pure, it is filled with light." _ For a moment, Mokuba thought he saw the statue smile a bit. _"My guard will help with this. This might hurt a bit, though."_

"What do you mean?" Mokuba turned around when he heard something flutter behind him. He turned around, seeing a man with short red hair and black demonic wings nod his head, scythe in hand. "W...who's that?"

"_Aliastro, the Regent of the Moon," _said the statue. _"Do not be fooled by his appearance—he fights for the side of good. He will bring the link to life."_

"All right," Mokuba nodded his head as Aliastro placed a hand on the boy's head. He winced, feeling some strange pain in his head, like someone used a laser to pierce his mind. Still, he stayed quiet as he heard Aliastro whisper something. He closed his eyes, hearing strains of words that he could barely pick up.

"_Oh look, it is him!"_

"_It really, really is!"_

"_Let's have him play!"_

"_Play with us, play with us!"_

Mokuba opened his eyes as strange white orbs flooded the temple. Aliastro was pushed aside as Mokuba was tossed around like a ragdoll, his ears ringing with the giggles and assorted laughter of these invisible tormentors. Then, they started to smother him, and try as he might, he was unable to escape.

"Help!" he cried, seeing the orbs slowly morph into children with empty eye sockets and black holes for mouths. "Someone! Help me!"

"_You're not supposed to talk, you're supposed to play!" _A child howled. There were some who growled, some who screeched, one roared like a lion. Mokuba was drowning in these spirits and their strange words, his vision covered with darkness. He could only scream.

"Mokuba!" A voice cried. "Mokuba, wake up!"

"Don't touch me!" Mokuba yelled, sitting up. He panted for breath, seeing the book on his chest fall onto the mattress, left on the page depicting the statue of Khonsu. He looked around, finding himself in his hotel room, his brother by his side. Mokuba slightly pinched myself, wincing when he felt a jolt of pain.

"Are you all right?" asked Kaiba, placing his forehead on his younger brother's forehead. "I was going to take you out for dinner, but then..."

"I'm fine, Seto," Mokuba answered, looking back at his Egyptian Mythology book. He traced the picture of a cartouche near the picture of Khonsu's statue. "I just...had a very bad dream."

"Did it involve your book?" Kaiba picked up the rather large book into his hands, skimming through a few of its pages. "I don't know why you're so interested in it, though. It's nothing but a bunch of hoo-hah created by loonies who couldn't truly describe most of the natural world around them."

"Well, considering all the talk about Egyptian God Cards and all back at Battle City, I just wanted to know more of its origins." Mokuba took the book back into his hands, noticing how the book now depicted the Chaos God, Set. "But that dream I had...it felt more tangible then ones I usually remember."

"How so?" Kaiba sat on the bed, noticing the look of concern on his younger brother's face.

"Well for one thing, I found a statue of Khonsu, the Moon God. He looked just like me," Mokuba began. "He wanted me to release him, and he had this strange man with red hair and wings. Then there were also these strange children who tried to...I don't know what they did, but they wanted to do _something_ to me. I want to think that they're related to the recent monster sightings, but I don't have any concrete evidence and it's just a weird theory in itself." His stomach began to growl. "Oh, and maybe it's because I'm hungry."

"That's why I came here. Come on," Kaiba ruffled his brother's hair. "Let's have dinner."

Mokuba nodded his head as he set the book down on the bed. He took one more glance at it before leaving the hotel room with his brother.

**0-0-0-0-0**

In Domino City, it was around 10 AM when Tristan, Joey and Téa entered the Game Shop. Everyone gathered in Yugi's room, staring at a laptop with the media coverage about the Duel Monster sightings. May and Max were also there, watching in curiosity, and a bit of worry for their friends.

"I bet Ash and Brock aren't going through all of this," Max muttered. Whether it was out of jealousy or worry, May couldn't tell.

"Unexplained illumination in the night sky, and unusual weather patterns were reported amongst dozens of countries around the world," said the news announcer. He wasn't kidding, the screen showed tornadoes, hail and the multicolored light all around the world. "Are these related to the recent Duel Monster sightings? More to come, but first the lottery number!"

Téa pressed a key on the laptop to stop the video. "I guess whatever happened last night happened everywhere around the world," she said to the others.

"Yeah," said Joey in reply as he picked up Timaeus. "But thanks to this card, Yugi was able to kick that thing's supernatural butt! Till it comes back again, I guess."

"And don't forget the monsters that were summoned before him," Max added. "Without Timaeus, who nows what would've happened? I mean, May and I tried our hardest to

"Speaking of which," said Yugi, turning to the Petalburgh siblings. "How exactly were you able to do that? I mean, you just summoned two regular monsters to fight that giant eye, and I've never seen anyone do that."

"Um...call it a stroke of luck?" asked May, looking at her Dark Horus card. "I mean, what are the chances that it would work?"

"Yeah," Max added, his eyes shifting back and forth. "Besides, we still have no idea what happened. I mean, we just wanted to relax and have fun and not...get into trouble."

"Yeah, and what was with that show with those motorcyclists and those Pocky mon?" Tristan added. "What was with you two going crazy and nearly getting yourselves killed?"

"They're called Pokémon!" May snapped back. "Besides, we weren't expecting a crazy situation with monsters rampaging across the city on vacation!"

"Vacation?" asked Téa. "This seems to be something more than just a simple 'vacation'."

May sighed and took in a deep breath, knowing that it wouldn't work to keep hiding the truth.

"Well," she began. "Apparently Max and I were given those titles because we are descendants of the beings of Joy and Wisdom. From what Professor Hawkins said about monsters being summoned to the real world, we were granted that ability to do so. We even have cards based on Manaphy and Jirachi to guide us on our quest."

"Dark Magician Girl said that we were to protect the Pharaoh in his darkest hour," Max added as he and May brought out their new Ritual monsters. "And with the blessings of these Legendary Pokémon, along with the titles of Goddess of Joy and Prince of Wisdom, things are starting to become dangerous."

Tristan snatched the cards from the Pokémon trainers, staring at them wonder. "I still don't know how a Duel Monsters Card could to that," he said, turning them this way and that. "It doesn't look that special to me."

"Give us that!" said May, grabbing the cards. "Just because a Duel Monster card doesn't look special, doesn't mean it can't be one! It's like a Pokémon, it has feelings and emotions—even though we don't know a lot about Pokémon or Duel Monsters. Besides, these cards needed to be treated delicately, right Yugi?"

"Yeah," said Yugi, taking his Timaeus card from Joey. "There's no telling what these new cards can do."

_You're right. _said Yami, unheard to everyone else but the Millennium Puzzle holder. _The Eye of Timaeus contains the spirit of an ancient dragon, and although it protected us, it could be dangerous._

"Shouldn't we be doing something about this?" asked Téa to the others. "I mean, there has to be something we can do."

"Like what?" asked Joey. "I don't even know where to begin with all of this madness."

"Well, we could first start with the monster sightings," Tristan suggested. "Or the giant eye that started to blast us last night...or figure out what that motorcycle gang was up to; you know, the one that steals people's souls and all?"

"I have a feeling they're all connected somehow," said May, clutching a wrist with her hand. "I mean, maybe those monsters were used to power up the eye and maybe the human souls are also needed to fuel it."

"The secret to this might lie within Timaeus, and in Jirachi and Manaphy," Max stated, staring at his Jirachi card. "I mean, whoever snatched the Millennium Comet and destroyed Samiya wanted to obtain something from them."

"Hey, Yugi...let me at that dragon again," said Joey, taking the card from his friend's hand. "Maybe if we can get that dragon to come out, he could tell us what's going on here." He started to rub the card with his jacket sleeve, as if it was a genie's lamp, but was soon bashed in the head by Tristan.

"Oh no you don't!" he replied. "Didn't you hear what May said? That these cards needed to be treated delicately?"

Joey grabbed the collar of Tristan's jacket. "That's it, pal! You're going down for the count."

Within seconds, the two were fighting each other while the rest sighed at the act. It was then that the door to the room open and Solomon poked his head in.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything important." said the Game Shop owner.

"No, not at all," said May in reply. "What's that you got in your hand?"

"Not sure. It's some sort of package addressed to Yugi. I can't tell who it's from though; my eyesight's not like it used to be." Yugi took the package from his grandfather's hands, gasping in surprise at who sent him the delivery.

"Who's it from, Yugi?" asked Max as the rest of the group looked above him.

"Let's see." said Téa, reading the address. "'From the office of Maximillion Pegasus.'"

There was some silence, before May and Max heard three screams of horror at the name.

"Not Pegasus!" Joey cried while the Petalburgh siblings looked on in confusion.

**0-0-0-0-0**

Down at the living room, the six were staring at the opened package and its contents: a video tape and a duel monsters card of a key—technically May and Max were sitting on the couch, reading the copy of _**Duelist Monthly **_that their mother gave them.

"According to this magazine, Maximillion Pegasus is the creator of Duel Monsters., said Max, pointing to the article. "He also created the Duelist Kingdom Tournament, where people who had obtained ten star chips could enter the castle. Only four people made it to the finals, however..."

"And that was Yugi, Joey, Bandit Keith...and some girl named Mai Valentine," May continued. "Yugi went on to defeat Pegasus and won the $3 million prize and a special card known as the 'Ties of Friendship'. Hey, isn't that the same card Rebecca showed us?"

"It is," Max answered. "But what does Pegasus want with Yugi?"

"I suggest we get rid of this thing," said Tristan, ignoring Max's question.

"No, it might be important." Téa replied.

"I'm with Tristan on this one," said Joey. "I'm not trusting that guy again; after all you guys do remember what he did to Grandpa's soul the last time we stuck a videotape into the VCR?" The memory of the incident replayed in his mind as he added, "Maybe we should tape it over with some Saturday cartoons."

"What are you so worried about?" asked Téa. "Besides, it's not like he has the Millennium Eye anymore."

"The what?" May gasped in surprise. She looked back at the picture of Pegasus in the magazine, noticing that his hair covered the area where his left eye was. "Did you say he had a Millennium Item?!"

"He did originally, but not anymore," Tristan answered. "And besides, he _**was**_ a little less creepy last time we saw him." May and Max didn't understand, but decided not to ask any further questions, continuing to read from the magazine.

"So, what should we do?" asked Yugi to Yami.

_I suggest we play that tape._ The spirit replied. _Pegasus is the Creator of Duel Monsters, after all. He might have something to do with the recent Duel Monster sightings._

Yugi nodded his head as he gripped onto the video tape.

"Yugi, what are you doing with that thing?" Joey asked nervously, grabbing a pillow.

"Just trust me," Yugi replied. "I know what I'm doing."

"Can't we just take a vote on this?" Joey exclaimed. The question was ignored when Yugi placed the tape onto the VCR. It soon began to play as everyone in the room started to panic.

"Everyone grab hold to something solid!" Joey cried, grabbing onto May. The action caused Joey to be pushed onto the floor by the Pokémon Coordinator.

The screen showed the Creator of Duel Monsters addressing the group: from what May and Max saw was that he was probably around his 20's or 30's—he had long, silver hair with part of it covering his left eye—and wore a red business suit and cravat.

"Greetings, Yugi-boy!" The Creator stated cheerfully, causing May and Max to sweat drop a bit. "It's been so long. You never call, you never write...after all we've been through together, you could have at _least_ sent me an email."

"Is he that...eccentric?" asked May. The others sighed, as if they were ashamed to answer that question.

"And...what exactly happened back at Duelist Kingdom?" Max added, looking back at the magazine.

"Long, _long_ story." said Tristan, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"We're still here in the room right?" asked Joey, a bit frightened. Téa replied with a 'yeah' in response.

"Now, unless you've been living under the rock the past two days, I'm sure that you're aware that Duel Monsters are running amuck all over our entire world." Pegasus continued. "Luckily for me, Kaiba-boy has been taking most of the heat for this recent affairs. Of course, _**I **_know who's really behind this."

"Does he always address famous duelists with '-boy'?" asked May, staring at the video. "I thought he would be so cool...but now he seems so _weird_."

"I must stop them; they're ruining the reputation of my game, and that's not very good for business." the video continued. "The only catch is, it's too risky to send you any information on this tape, so that means you're going to have to see me in person."

"Seriously?!" Max exclaimed. "That would be awesome!"

"It's the only way to ensure complete secrecy. And last but not least, I've enclosed a one-of-a-kind card..." May and Max nodded their heads.

"Just make sure you don't lose it!" Video Pegasus screamed. The message caused May and Max to flinch a bit.

"He won't lose it, he won't lose it!" May exclaimed.

"That key is the only way to get into my compound!" Pegasus continued. "Guard it with your life, they mustn't take it!" And that was where the video ended, the VCR soon rewinding the whole tape.

"Well, you heard what he said!" said Max, standing up. "We all have to go and meet up with him in order to figure out who's been causing this mayhem! Come on, let's-"

"Wait a second," Yugi interrupted. "Are you sure that it's a good idea for you to join us? You said you were here for vacation, after all."

"Well, we just got involved with this whole situation," said May. "And we've dealt with threats like this before. Remember Team Aqua and Team Magma, Max?"

"Of course." Max nodded his head. "And don't forget Deoxys, or how Jirachi was forced to create that fake Groudon. Not to mention the Life Tree trying to devour us, or Phantom wanting to destroy Samiya..."

"How many adventures have you've gone through?" asked Tristan, seeing May nodding her head with each mention of an incident in the Petalburgh siblings' past.

"A lot, apparently," said Téa. "But this thing is going to be different than what you're used to."

"We'll be fine," said May, standing up. "Come on Max, let's go to the park so we can practice our dueling."

"Yosh!" Max sat up. "Race you!"

As the siblings raced out of the Game Shop, Yugi looked at the card with the key as its image.

"Yugi," said Tristan. "You're not really going to let those kids join us...right?"

"What choice do we have?" said Yugi, looking up. "Max helped out in my duel against Grimo, and May said she beat Bandit Keith in her first duel. Not to mention that they were brave enough to chase after those bikers while we stood there."

"Either they were very brave or very foolish," Joey noted. "I go for the latter anyday."

"Well, we don't have much of a choice," Yugi sighed. "They're determined to follow us, and it will be nice to have some backup."

"And if they get beaten to a pulp by thugs twice their size?" Tristan asked sarcastically.

"Then we go and help them. Everyone needs help, and everyone needs to know that there are people to help them," Yugi nodded his head. "And May and Max...they must might be the help that we need."

**0-0-0-0-0**

May and Max's duel already attracted a few onlookers. At the moment, Max had 2000 lifepoints May was at800. On Max's side of the field was Maiden of the Macabre with three Spell Counters, and Defender the Magical Knight. May had Atem, the Ancient Pharaoh, and two cards facedown. It was Max's turn.

"I play the Spell Card, Bound Wand to give Maiden of the Macabre an additional 400 Attack Points and making him stronger than Atem! Say your prayers, May!"

Maiden of the Macabre's scythe became the wand topped with the red crystal, her attack strength now at 2700. May snarled.

"Go ahead, do your worst," she said.

"I will! Maiden of the Macabre, attack Atem with Macabre Slash! Then, Defender the Magical Knight, attack directly and end this duel!"

Maiden of the Macabre rushed toward Atem, unleashing a bolt of lightning at the Pharaoh's chest. May shielded herself as her lifepoints dropped to 500. Defender flew toward May, dagger ready to take the last of her lifepoints.

"I activate my facedown card, Fires of Doomsday!" she cried.

Two strange tokens appeared on the field, both of them made of black flames with a single eye in the center. (0/0 x 2) Defender destroyed one with his dagger.

"Darn then," Max grumbled. "I guess I'll have to play one card facedown. You're up."

"Thanks," May smiled, drawing a card. "I think I'll start off by summoning my Breaker, the Magical Warrior in Attack Mode!"

The red and gold Spellcaster appeared, the purple orb in its shield glowing. (SC: 1) (1600/1000) → (1900/1000)

"Next, I'll banish my Kuriboh to bring back Atem!" May continued.

The Pharaoh emerged from a portal of shadows, sword ready. (2400/1700)

"Here's where things get interesting," May smiled. "I activate my facedown card, Element Change!"

A Trap Card flipped over, revealing a tsunami crashing against an erupting volcano. Atem Breaker, and the Doomsday Token became engulfed in light.

"This Trap Card lets me change the attribute of all face-up monsters on the field. So now, what is Darkness has now become Light!"

Maiden of Macabre, Atem the Ancient Pharaoh,Breaker the Magical Warrior and the last Doomsday Token soon gained a white aura, while Defender the Magical Knight stayed the same.

"What was that for?" asked Max. "Doesn't Atem work better with Dark Monsters on the field?"

"He does," May answered. "But the monster I want to summon is a special case. I activate my Spell Card, **Dark Karma**!"

A Spell Card materialized, showing a wheel depicting twelve animals of the Chinese Zodiac seemingly merging with a yin-yang symbol all while a mass of darkness seemed to cover them. The auras around May's monsters darkened.

"What's going on?" asked Max. "Why are they so angry?"

"Dark Karma lets me Special Summon a Light or Dark attribute monster from my hand. Depending on the monster I summoned will reflect back on my monsters. For example, I choose to call forth a Light-attribute monster, and by doing so changes the attributes of my monsters into Dark. For every monster that's affected by this card, you lose 500 lifepoints."

Max watched as a blast of dark energy hit his Duel Disk, decreasing his lifepoints to 500.

"And what about this monster you plan on summoning?" asked Max.

"It's a new card that I wanted to try out," May smiled, turning to the audience. "I present to you all, **Khonsu – Child of the Moon**!"

A sarcophagus materialized on the field. The lid opened, revealing a freshly bandaged mummy wearing a cartouche marked with a moon cradled by a crescent.

"Looks...sort of pathetic," Max stated. "What type of monster is he?"

The mummy looked at the bandages and pulled them off, revealing a young boy with black bushy hair that fell to his waist, and fierce silver eyes. The boy licked his lips. (1200/800)

_Khonsu? _asked Atem, turning to the new monster. _It can't be...could it be true?_

May tilted her head as she heard Atem speak, but Khonsu didn't respond. No matter, she'd get to the bottom of the mystery sooner or later.

"When Khonsu is on the field, I can sacrifice a Dark monster to increase his attack points by 2000 once per turn," May explained. "Khonsu, feed on my Doomsday token!"

Khonsu giggled and grabbed the token, the monster looking in terror as Khonsu opened his mouth, swallowing the monster whole. Max grimaced as the boy rubbed his belly in delight. (1200/800) → (3200/800)

"One more thing, Max," May smirked. "You're all about Spell Counters, so you know what happens when Breaker gives up his, right?"

Max gulped as Breaker sacrificed his Spell Counter, destroying his facedown Waboku. He was now defenseless.

"Game's over, Max!" said May. "Khonsu, attack Maiden of the Macabre now!"

Khonsu smirked as he flew toward the female Spellcaster, eyes wild in delight as he summoned a curved blade to slice the Maiden in half. Max knew he had lost—even if he used Defender's special ability to prevent Maiden of Macabre's destruction, it didn't mean it would stop the damage that would hit his lifepoints. He watched Khonsu destroy his monster with a single swipe, his lifepoints going down to 0.

"And that's how it's done," May grinned, performing a V sign. The crowd applauded her as she bowed. "Thank you, thank you. You're all too kind."

"Uh, May," said Max. "Something's wrong here. The holograms aren't disappearing. Khonsu is still on the field."

"What do you mean?" May looked around her. Breaker the Magical Warrior and Defender the Magical Knight were gone, but Atem and Khonsu were still here. Khonsu grinned as he pulled out Maiden of Macabre's still beating heart, drooling at it.

_Finally, I can feast again..._Khonsu giggled. _I've been waiting for this day._

"W...wait this isn't right!" May looked at her Duel Disk, trying to look for a button to stop the holigrams. "Don't tell me..."

The audience began to run away in panic as Khonsu bit deep into the heart, blood spilling everywhere. Max pulled out a Poké ball.

"Shuppet!" he cried. "Attack now with-" He was cut off by Atem suddenly teleporting behind him and covering his mouth. The Pharaoh raised his hand into the air, the scenery dissolving into a world of darkness and shadows.

"What's going on, Atem?" May demanded, approaching the Pharaoh. "What is this place?"

"This is a Shadow Space," Atem answered, lowering his hand. "With it, we move into a different plane of existence away from the outside world. This will lead us into the Shadow Realm."

"Shadow Realm?!" Max repeated. "But I thought that was a dark place, a _bad_ place. W...why are we here?"

"The Goddess of Joy reawakened Khonsu, the Moon God. Now it is time for his spirit to pass onto the mental link that Aliastro should've created."

"Wait, you _know_ Aliastro?" asked May, recalling the demonic spirit that approached her and Max the night before. "Atem, you're not telling us everything. What have you been hiding from us?"

_He will reveal everything in time._ said Khonsu, turning to the Petalburgh siblings. He smiled and bowed. _Thank you for letting me appear in this world once more, Goddess. I must head off though. I encountered someone in my dreams...a boy with my image who is destined to be the one._

"'The one?'" Max reiterated. "What do you mean by that?"

_There is another person who has been chosen to help the Pharaoh in his darkest hour. _Khonsu answered, closing his eyes. _Within my temple, the boy came to me. He was not afraid at all, and his heart was very pure. I will let my spirit flow through him, and release his true potential. _

"And does this person have a name?" asked Max, raising an eyebrow.

"_No, I couldn't get his name before the spirits that inhabit the temple decided to see him. But you will know in time. When you see him for the first time, you will know." _Khonsu smiled as a pair of gold, white and black feathery wings emerged from his back. _I must go now. With this energy, I can walk amongst mortals and bask in the moon's light._

"Will Maiden of Macabre be okay?" Max pulled out a Duel Monsters card, frowning. "I don't think she liked having to be eaten like that."

"Give her some time to rest," said Atem. "As for you, you must prepare for the journey ahead. Khonsu shall give you his blessing—he will ensure that you are ready for the trials that will come forth."

Khonsu clasped his hands in prayer, his wings shedding feathers that cascaded toward May and Max, shattering into sparkling light. Then, the same wings enveloped him, compressed into a large orb that resembled the moon before it disappeared with a small 'pop'. Atem raised his hand as the shadows disappeared, returning May and Max to Domino City Park.

"Atem," May approached the Pharaoh, a hand on his shoulder. She narrowed her eyes. "I understand that you want us to help save the world, but if you keep hiding secrets from us, then you can consider Max and I no longer listening to everything you have to say. You _will_ tell us everything about what's going on, or else."

Atem looked in to May's eyes, seeing the anger and fury on her face. He sighed and bowed his head in defeat.

"All right," he said. "On my honor as Pharaoh, the next time something important happens, I shall be there to explain everything."

"Not only that," Max stepped up. "Kura, Seth and Jouno need to be there also. They're all part of this, that we know. So don't hold anything back. We know how to fight now."

"That you do," Atem smiled, his face showing a mixture of both relief and of sorrow. "I'm so happy that you two are able to fight. Your ancestors...they were not so lucky."

"Atem..." May and Max narrowed their eyes. Atem straightened his back and looked to them.

"Please understand that there is a time and place for these tales," the Pharaoh sighed. "I cannot waste time telling you all of this when you must see it for yourself. So go back to the Game Shop, mentally and emotionally prepare for the journey ahead and, by all means, do not tell any of this to Yugi or the others."

"And you're asking us to do so when we oureselves have no idea what's going on," May noted. Atem nodded his head.

"You will understand in due time, Goddess of Joy and Prince of Wisdom," he said. "Just be ready, that's the only advice I can give."

The pharaoh began to fade away, all while May and Max stared at their Duel Disks. They knew that they couldn't do anything right now, so the only thing to do was head back.

"Can we really trust him?" Max hissed to May. May nodded her head.

"We might have no choice in the matter," she answered. "Now come on, let's go home and have lunch. Maybe we can cook something for Yugi."

"Do you even _know_ how to cook?"

"Well I learned from Brock, and I can make some decent croquettes now. They're said to be good with a warm, savory curry sauce..."

**0-0-0-0-0**

Deep within the ocean, one of the fragments of the Great Beast was glowing, as if it was some sort of beacon. And deep within the fortress on the island, there was trouble brewing.

"Our time will come, Great Leviathan," said the robed man. "Once I retrieve the Winged Dragon of Ra, I will use its power along with the captured souls to bring you back to your former glory. Then, you will be able to swallow the Earth; no one will stop us! No one..."

He recalled watching May and Max summon their monsters, and then there was Yugi summoning the Eye of Timaeus to defeat the Great Beast. He snarled as he said, "So the Pharaoh has some friends that are helping him out, and that the Pharaoh himself has one of the dragons. No matter; they are minor setbacks, and will be dealt later.

"Raphael!" He cried while the blonde motorcyclist soon appeared, bowing to his master on one knee.

"I know what to do, Master Dartz," said Raphael with determination. He growled, clenching his hand into a fist as he recalled the two ids who tried to fight them. "I'll find the Pharaoh, and make sure that we drain his power to feed the Great Beast."

"Why don't you try listening?" Dartz asked the Swordsman with a hint of sarcasm. "It's really a wonderful skill, and when you master it, you'll realize that we'll need more than the Pharaoh's soul to power the Great Beast."

"Then we'll deal with the others too." said Alister walking in from one of the pillars. "I'll take Kaiba."

"I've got me eye on someone, too," Valon gloated also walking in from the other side. "That feisty little bloke, Joey Wheeler. He should be fun to take apart."

"I know why you're after Wheeler," Alister replied with a sneer.

"Mind your own business, Alister," Valon snapped back, pointing a finger at his fellow Swordsman. "And what about you? Why the sudden interest in Kaiba?"

"Look, I have my reasons."

"Really, now?" asked Valon, the tone in voice sounding as if the two were going to fight in a few seconds.

"Knock it off!" said Raphael, interrupting the two. "We're in the presence of Master Dartz." Valon and Alister turned away from each other.

"The Pharaoh and his friends are on their way to speak with the one that we've been watching," said Dartz. "Just make certain that you arrive there before they do."

"Pegasus." Raphael answered—which Dartz replied with something on the lines of "And to think, I called you a bad listener."

"One last thing," said Dartz. "Should you ever get your hands on those two 'kids', bring them to me personally. I want to speak with those two about their 'powers'."

Raphael nodded his head, memories of meeting up with May replaying in his mind. Despite the fact that he didn't know her name, he still thought as if those two had met long ago...

"Just what's so important about those kids?" asked Valon. "I don't see anything special about them. Well, aside from the fact that the boy's voice can burst one's eardrums."

"Those two were able to summon monsters into the real world, Valon," Dartz explained. "And since you didn't see that girl's duel with Bandit Keith, you would soon come to realize that that girl has cards that have strange properties in them."

"Those creatures those little brats were powerful," Alister added. "I'm still cringing from the kick that thing gave me...not to mention how they _ruined my jacket_!"

"Well, Goddess or not, that little girl is going down for the count," said Valon. "And you can bet that she won't know what hit her. Same goes for that little boy also...we'll crush them like the insignificant bugs they are."

**0-0-0-0-0**

Nighttime at Domino City had Téa, Tristan, Joey and Yugi prepare their luggage for the trip ahead. May and Max were lucy to have a bag already packed for their original plan to relax in Domino City, so the two were in bed, trying to sleep. Max tossed and turned, looking at the Jirachi Ritual Monster Card in hand. He sat up.

"May, are you awake?" he asked, seeing his sister roll to the side. "I can't sleep."

"That makes two of us," May sat up, looking at her Duel Disk. "It's about Atem and those things he's not telling us, right?"

"Of course. I mean, you know that I love learning...and when I don't know what's going on, I just can't stop focusing on what I want to learn. Just who is this person who is going to join us? And what else have those spirits not told us."

"Who knows? Aliastro also seemed to not want to mention anything...particularly that cartouche with the strange name on it," May placed a hand on her forehead. Ever since she fought Raphael, she would catch glimpses of a desert covered in dark storm clouds, a city on fire, and a man that looked similar to Raphael reaching out to her. "But all we can do is just wait."

"I don't want to wait, though."

"Neither do I," May laid back on the bed, looking at the ceiling. "But sometimes, we just have to. Get some rest. We're waking up early and flying on a plane for around 14 hours just to get to Industrial Illusions. Hopefully they'll have delicious airplane food.

"Yeah..." Max yawned and rolled to his side so his back faced outward. "Goodnight, May."

"Night, Max." May whispered, closing her eyes.

**0-0-0-0-0-0**

In Seatle, Mokuba walked across the pier, the Egyptian Mythology book in his hands. It was only 10 AM, yet there were so many people walking about. He didn't dream the night before, or maybe he did dream and he just didn't remember it. It was strange to not remember such things.

"Ladies and gentlemen!" cried a voice. "Come join us for a Kamen Rider Circus!"

Mokuba turned, watching as two men appeared in front of a puppet theater, along with a multitude of cloth dolls with button eyes dancing and jumping about. There wasn't an audience in sight, so the theater must've been set up recently. There was one doll with spiral horns and wings who breathed fire, and a female doll who flew on a broomstick. Mokuba couldn't see any wires on them, and they didn't look like they were made with animatronics. So that meant...

"Are those...magic?" he said, a bit too loud. The two men, one wearing a purple striped shirt, black pants, vest and fedora to resemble a detective, the other wearing a glittering ring master's coat that was half green and half purple with a matching top hat wrapped with a yellow ribbon, stopped their dancing to stare at the boy. They smiled at him, revealing rows of nails for teeth. "W...who are you? No, what are you?"

"We are two beings in one," said the detective. "Hahaha...I am Shotaro, and my partner is Philip. You must be...the one."

"'The one?' Are you talking about..." Mokuba looked at his book that he carried under the crook of his arm. "Were you sent by Khonsu?"

"No, but we were told by a traveller amongst the Nightmare Realm that you were going to be in lots of troubles little boy," Philip smiled. He removed his top hat and held it in front of Mokuba, waving his hand around it. Place your hand inside it, and make a wish. Inside this hat, you will find something that will help you survive today.

"Um...okay," Mokuba took a better look at the theater, with its black and white striped tent top, the dolls with their button eyes, the strange chime-like music that was carried by the wind. He always dreamed of such a thing like this, but experiencing it was different. He closed his eyes and placed his hand inside the hat.

_I wish to be strong. _He thought to himself. _I want to be able to stand on my own two feet. I want to be strong so I don't have to rely on anyone anymore. I want to be brave. I want to be able to just...not be captured anymore. That's all I want._

Mokuba opened his eyes as he felt something at the bottom of the hat. He pulled the item out, revealing a deck of cards. Not just any plain deck though. It was a deck full of Duel Monsters. He flipped a card over, revealing a teenage boy with a pompadour pointing at him.

"This is weird..." he said, looking through more and more cards. "What is this?"

"A deck," Philip answered. "And now, here is a Duel Disk. Shotaro?"

Shotaro muttered a spell in something that sounded like French...or maybe it _was_ French, but Mokuba couldn't tell. He just watched as a mass of starry energy wrapped around his left arm, transforming into a Duel Disk. The deck holder was a circle segmented with a red, yellow and green lines. The tray was purple and green, and when Mokuba touched it, he thought he could hear the sound of snakes hissing at him.

"Who are you guys?" he asked, seeing Shotaro and Philip smile at him. "Why do you have nails for teeth? How do those dolls move?"

"So many questions, so little time," Philip smiled. "Well, seeing as you have time before danger knocks on your door, why don't you see our circus? Cloth Shotaro, Cloth Philip...why don't you start it?"

Two dolls, dressed just like Shotaro and Philip with purple andchartreuse button eyes respectively, hopped onto the stage, bowing toward Mokuba. Mokuba sat down on the grass, curious as to what he would see.

"Welcome to our circus," said Cloth Shotaro. "Today we tell you tales of our lives, and that how we must suffer for our art. He gasped dramatically and fell on his back. Cloth Philip poked him before addressing Mokuba.

"The show is about to begin," he said. "Will you come and stay a while?"

Mokuba nodded his head as he inserted the deck into the Duel Disk. Then, the curtains lifted.

**0-0-0-0-0-0**

**Mokuba: Just what am I seeing? Why was I chosen?**

**Philip: Sometimes, it's just the way things are. Don't you agree, partner?**

**Shotaro: HAHAHA! Life is full of surprises and if you don't know them, you just deal with it!**

**Mokuba: That's still something that doesn't make sense.**

**Philip: Sometimes, you find that life never makes sesen.**

**Mokuba: Next time, Between my Brother and Me chapter 7, "Break the Seal"**

**Shotaro: Are you ready to count for your sins, young one? It's a big world out there after all.**


End file.
